ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ramesh Raskar - Femto-photographer
Photography is about creating images by recording light. At the MIT media lab, professor Ramesh Raskar and his team members have invented a camera that can photograph light itself as it moves at, well, the speed of light.

Why you should listen

In 1964 MIT professor Harold Edgerton, pioneer of stop-action photography, famously took a photo of a bullet piercing an apple using exposures as short as a few nanoseconds. Inspired by his work, Ramesh Raskar and his team set out to create a camera that could capture not just a bullet (traveling at 850 meters per second) but light itself (nearly 300 million meters per second).

Stop a moment to take that in: photographing light as it moves. For that, they built a camera and software that can visualize pictures as if they are recorded at 1 trillion frames per second. The same photon-imaging technology can also be used to create a camera that can peer "around" corners , by exploiting specific properties of the photons when they bounce off surfaces and objects.

Among the other projects that Raskar is leading, with the MIT Media Lab's Camera Culture research group, are low-cost eye care devices, a next generation CAT-Scan machine and human-computer interaction systems.

Papers: 

Andreas Velten, Thomas Willwacher, Otkrist Gupta, Ashok Veeraraghavan, Moungi G. Bawendi and Ramesh Raskar, “Recovering ThreeDimensional Shape around a Corner using Ultra-Fast Time-of-Flight Imaging.” Nature Communications, March 2012

Andreas Velten, Adrian Jarabo, Belen Masia, Di Wu, Christopher Barsi, Everett Lawson, Chinmaya Joshi, Diego Gutierrez, Moungi G. Bawendi and Ramesh Raskar, "Ultra-fast Imaging for Light in Motion" (in progress). http://femtocamera.info

More profile about the speaker
Ramesh Raskar | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2012

Ramesh Raskar: Imaging at a trillion frames per second

拉米示·拉斯卡:萬分之一秒攝影

Filmed:
5,395,201 views

拉米示·拉斯卡展現了飛秒成像,一種在萬分之一秒中成像的新型成像技術,所以它展示了光的運動。這個技術有可能被用來看到拐角處的東西,或者在不用X光機的情況下透視身體。
- Femto-photographer
Photography is about creating images by recording light. At the MIT media lab, professor Ramesh Raskar and his team members have invented a camera that can photograph light itself as it moves at, well, the speed of light. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
Doc文件 Edgerton埃傑頓 inspired啟發 us with awe威嚴 and curiosity好奇心
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Edgerton博士用這張子彈擊穿蘋果的照片
00:22
with this photo照片 of a bullet子彈 piercing沖孔 through通過 an apple蘋果,
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激起了我們的敬佩和好奇,
00:28
and exposure曝光 just a millionth百萬分之一 of a second第二.
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這張照片的曝光時間只有一百萬分之一秒。
00:32
But now, 50 years年份 later後來, we can go a million百萬 times faster更快
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但現在,五十年後,我們可以在快一百萬倍,
00:40
and see the world世界 not at a million百萬,
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也就是不僅在一百萬分之一秒,
00:43
or a billion十億,
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或者十億分之一秒,
00:45
but one trillion frames per second第二.
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而是在萬億分之一秒見捕捉到世界。
00:49
I present當下 you a new type類型 of photography攝影,
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現在我給你展示一種新型照相技術,
00:53
femto-photography毫微微攝影,
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叫做飛秒成像,
00:55
a new imaging成像 technique技術 so fast快速
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這是一種技術太快以至於
01:00
that it can create創建 slow motion運動 videos視頻 of light in motion運動.
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它能捕捉到光的運動。
01:05
And with that, we can create創建 cameras相機
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所以用這個技術,我們可以制造
01:08
that can look around corners角落,
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能看到光路拐角的照相機,
01:10
beyond line of sight視力
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能看到視野之外
01:12
or see inside our body身體 without an X-rayX-射線,
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或者不用X光就能透視我們身體的照相機,
01:16
and really challenge挑戰 what we mean by a camera相機.
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這種相機挑戰了我們對於照相機的定義。
01:21
Now if I take a laser激光 pointer指針 and turn it on and off
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現在,如果我用一個激光筆,
01:25
in one trillionth萬億 of a second第二 --
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並且在萬億分之一秒內開關一次——
01:28
which哪一個 is several一些 femtoseconds飛秒 --
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也就是幾飛秒——
01:31
I'll create創建 a packet of photons光子
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我就會制造一些光子,
01:33
barely僅僅 a millimeter毫米 wide,
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這些光子僅僅是幾毫米寬,
01:35
and that packet of photons光子, that bullet子彈,
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並且這些光子,像子彈一樣,
01:38
will travel旅行 at the speed速度 of light,
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會以光速前進,
01:40
and, again, a million百萬 times faster更快 than an ordinary普通 bullet子彈.
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也就是比子彈速度高一百萬倍。
01:45
Now, if you take that bullet子彈 and take this packet of photons光子
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現在,如果你把這個子彈,這些光子
01:50
and fire into this bottle瓶子,
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打入這個瓶子裏,
01:53
how will those photons光子 shatter打碎 into this bottle瓶子?
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這些光子會怎麽樣撞擊瓶子?
01:57
How does light look in slow motion運動?
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光在慢動作下會是什麽樣?
02:21
Now, the whole整個 event事件 -- (Applause掌聲)
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現在,著整個事情——
(鼓掌)
02:25
(Applause掌聲)
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(鼓掌)
02:29
Now, remember記得, the whole整個 event事件
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現在,請記住,這整個事情
02:32
is effectively有效 taking服用 place地點 in less than a nanosecond納秒
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其實是在一納秒內發生的
02:35
— that's how much time it takes for light to travel旅行
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——也就是光走的時間——
02:38
but I'm slowing減緩 down in this video視頻 by a factor因子 of 10 billion十億
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但現在我再把這個錄像放慢一百萬倍
02:42
so you can see the light in motion運動.
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讓你看到運動中的光。
02:46
But, Coca-Cola可口可樂 did not sponsor贊助 this research研究. (Laughter笑聲)
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但可口可樂可沒有資助這個實驗。
(笑聲)
02:50
Now, there's a lot going on in this movie電影,
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現在,在這裏有很多事會發生,
02:52
so let me break打破 this down and show顯示 you what's going on.
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所以讓我一件一件的展示。
02:55
So, the pulse脈衝 enters進入 the bottle瓶子, our bullet子彈,
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現在,光束進入瓶子,也就是我們的子彈,
02:58
with a packet of photons光子 that start開始 traveling旅行 through通過
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穿過瓶子,
03:01
and that start開始 scattering散射 inside.
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並且在內部散射開來。
03:02
Some of the light leaks洩漏, goes on the table,
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一些光流了出來,到了桌子上,
03:05
and you start開始 seeing眼看 these ripples漣漪 of waves波浪.
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所以你開始看到這些波紋。
03:08
Many許多 of the photons光子 eventually終於 reach達到 the cap
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許多光子最終到達了瓶蓋處
03:10
and then they explode爆炸 in various各個 directions方向.
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並且向四周散去。
03:13
As you can see, there's a bubble泡沫 of air空氣,
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你能看到,這裏是一個空氣泡,
03:15
and it's bouncing蹦蹦 around inside.
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它在裏面反彈。
03:17
Meanwhile與此同時, the ripples漣漪 are traveling旅行 on the table,
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同時,波紋也到了桌子上,
03:19
and because of the reflections思考 at the top最佳,
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並且因爲在頂部的反射,
03:21
you see at the back of the bottle瓶子, after several一些 frames,
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你能看到在瓶子底部,幾幀之後,
03:25
the reflections思考 are focused重點.
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反射彙聚了。
03:28
Now, if you take an ordinary普通 bullet子彈
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現在,如果你用普通的子彈
03:34
and let it go the same相同 distance距離 and slow down the video視頻
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走同樣的路程,平且放慢視頻,
03:37
again by a factor因子 of 10 billion十億, do you know
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同樣是一百萬倍,你知道
03:40
how long you'll你會 have to sit here to watch that movie電影?
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你需要等多久來看到這個全過程嗎?
03:45
A day, a week? Actually其實, a whole整個 year.
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一天,一周?實際上,是一年。
03:50
It'll它會 be a very boring無聊 movie電影 — (Laughter笑聲) —
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這當然會很無聊
(笑聲)
03:54
of a slow, ordinary普通 bullet子彈 in motion運動.
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一個慢的,普通的子彈運動錄像。
03:58
And what about some still-life靜物 photography攝影?
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但一些靜物照相又如何呢?
04:08
You can watch the ripples漣漪 again washing洗滌 over the table,
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你可以看到波紋再次在桌子上展開,
04:14
the tomato番茄 and the wall in the back.
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背景是紅番茄和牆。
04:16
It's like throwing投擲 a stone in a pond池塘 of water.
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這就像在水池裏扔一塊石頭。
04:23
I thought, this is how nature性質 paints油漆 a photo照片,
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我想,這就是自然如何繪制的紅番茄,
04:26
one femto毫微微 frame at a time,
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一飛秒一飛秒,
04:29
but of course課程 our eye sees看到 an integral積分 composite綜合.
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但當然我們眼睛看到的是整體的結合。
04:34
But if you look at this tomato番茄 one more time,
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但如果你在看一下這個紅番茄,
04:38
you will notice注意, as the light washes over the tomato番茄,
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你就會注意到,當光在紅番茄上走過時,
04:40
it continues繼續 to glow輝光. It doesn't become成為 dark黑暗.
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它一直在閃耀。它並沒有變暗。
04:43
Why is that? Because the tomato番茄 is actually其實 ripe成熟,
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爲什麽?因爲紅番茄熟了,
04:47
and the light is bouncing蹦蹦 around inside the tomato番茄,
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並且光在紅番茄內部反射,
04:49
and it comes out after several一些 trillionths萬億分之 of a second第二.
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在幾萬億分之一秒後出來。
04:53
So, in the future未來, when this femto-camera毫微微相機
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所以,在未來,當飛米成像相機
04:56
is in your camera相機 phone電話,
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在你的手機裏的時候,
04:58
you might威力 be able能夠 to go to a supermarket超級市場
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你就可以去超市,
05:00
and check if the fruit水果 is ripe成熟 without actually其實 touching接觸 it.
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不用摸就能檢查一下水果是否熟了。
05:04
So how did my team球隊 at MITMIT create創建 this camera相機?
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那麽,麻省理工學院的團隊是怎麽做出這個相機的呢?
05:09
Now, as photographers攝影師, you know,
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現在,作爲攝影師,你知道,
05:11
if you take a short exposure曝光 photo照片, you get very little light,
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如果你想要短時曝光,你只有一點點光,
05:15
but we're going to go a billion十億 times faster更快
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但我們需要比最短的曝光時間
05:17
than your shortest最短 exposure曝光,
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快一百萬倍,
05:19
so you're going to get hardly幾乎不 any light.
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所以你幾乎得不到任何光。
05:21
So, what we do is we send發送 that bullet子彈,
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所以,我們做的是,
05:23
those packet of photons光子, millions百萬 of times,
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把這些光子送進去,並重複百萬多次,
05:25
and record記錄 again and again with very clever聰明 synchronization同步,
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每次都以極好的同步錄像,
05:28
and from the gigabytes千兆字節 of data數據,
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然後從數十億位元的數據中,
05:30
we computationally計算 weave編織 together一起
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我們“編織”起來一幅圖,
05:33
to create創建 those femto-videos飛秒視頻 I showed顯示 you.
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而這幅圖就是你們之前看到的。
05:36
And we can take all that raw生的 data數據
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並且我們把所有的原始數據到算進去時,
05:39
and treat對待 it in very interesting有趣 ways方法.
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進行很有趣的處理。
05:41
So, Superman超人 can fly.
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現在,超人能飛。
05:43
Some other heroes英雄 can become成為 invisible無形,
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一些其他英雄能隱身,
05:46
but what about a new power功率 for a future未來 superhero超級英雄:
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但想象一個未來的超人:
05:51
to see around corners角落?
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他能看到拐角後面的東西。
05:53
The idea理念 is that we could shine閃耀 some light on the door.
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這原理是我們可以把一些光打到門上,
05:58
It's going to bounce彈跳, go inside the room房間,
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這些光會反射進入房間,
06:01
some of that is going to reflect反映 back on the door,
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一些會返回到門上,
06:03
and then back to the camera相機,
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然後進入照相機,
06:05
and we could exploit利用 these multiple bounces反彈 of light.
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這樣我們就可以利用這些光的反射。
06:08
And it's not science科學 fiction小說. We have actually其實 built內置 it.
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這可不是科幻片。我們真正的做出來了。
06:10
On the left, you see our femto-camera毫微微相機.
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在左邊,你看到了我們的飛秒成像相機。
06:13
There's a mannequin模特 hidden behind背後 a wall,
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在牆後面有一個人體模型,
06:15
and we're going to bounce彈跳 light off the door.
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我們將進行光反射。
06:18
So after our paper was published發表
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所以,在我們的論文發表
06:20
in Nature性質 Communications通訊,
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在《自然》上後,
06:22
it was highlighted突出 by Nature性質.comCOM,
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它被推薦到自然的官網上,
06:24
and they created創建 this animation動畫.
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然後他們創造了這個動畫。
06:27
(Music音樂)
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(音樂)
06:33
We're going to fire those bullets子彈 of light,
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我們將要發射這些光子彈,
06:36
and they're going to hit擊中 this wall,
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它們將要撞擊這個牆,
06:40
and because the packet of the photons光子,
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並且因爲這束光
06:42
they will scatter分散 in all the directions方向,
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會散射到各個方向,
06:45
and some of them will reach達到 our hidden mannequin模特,
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一些會最終打到我們的隱藏的假人上,
06:47
which哪一個 in turn will again scatter分散 that light,
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並且會繼續散射,
06:50
and again in turn the door will reflect反映
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知道這個門也會反射
06:53
some of that scattered疏散 light,
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一些光,
06:56
and a tiny fraction分數 of the photons光子 will actually其實
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而一部分光會最終
06:58
come back to the camera相機, but most interestingly有趣,
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返回到相機裏,但最有趣的是,
07:01
they will all arrive到達 at a slightly different不同 time slot插槽.
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它們會在略微不同的時間到達。
07:04
(Music音樂)
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(音樂)
07:09
And because we have a camera相機 that can run so fast快速,
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而且因爲我們有一個可以運行如此之快的相機,
07:12
our femto-camera毫微微相機, it has some unique獨特 abilities能力.
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也就是我們的飛秒相機,這個相機就有一些特別的能力。
07:15
It has very good time resolution解析度,
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它有很好的時間分辨率,
07:18
and it can look at the world世界 at the speed速度 of light.
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並且可以以光速捕捉世界。
07:21
And this way, we know the distances距離, of course課程 to the door,
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所以這樣,我們不僅知道相機到門的距離,
07:25
but also to the hidden objects對象,
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同時知道到隱藏物品的距離,
07:27
but we don't know which哪一個 point corresponds對應
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但我們不知道哪個點
07:28
to which哪一個 distance距離.
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對應哪個距離。
07:31
(Music音樂)
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(音樂)
07:34
By shining閃亮的 one laser激光, we can record記錄 one raw生的 photo照片, which哪一個,
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通過用激光,我們能記錄一個原始的照片,
07:38
you look on the screen屏幕, doesn't really make any sense,
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也就是你們在屏幕上看到的這個,好像沒什麽意義,
07:40
but then we will take a lot of such這樣 pictures圖片,
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但然後我們會拍很多照片,
07:42
dozens許多 of such這樣 pictures圖片, put them together一起,
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很多很多,放到一起,
07:45
and try to analyze分析 the multiple bounces反彈 of light,
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然後分析光的反射,
07:47
and from that, can we see the hidden object目的?
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現在我們能看到那個隱藏的物體了嗎?
07:51
Can we see it in full充分 3D?
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我們能立體的看懂嗎?
07:54
So this is our reconstruction重建. (Music音樂)
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這就是我們的模型重建。
(音樂)
07:56
(Music音樂)
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(音樂)
08:00
(Music音樂) (Applause掌聲)
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(音樂)
(掌聲)
08:08
Now we have some ways方法 to go before we take this
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現在距離我們在將這科技應用到生活中
08:11
outside the lab實驗室 on the road, but in the future未來,
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還有一些路要走,
08:14
we could create創建 cars汽車 that avoid避免 collisions碰撞
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但在未來,我們可以把這個技術放到車裏,
08:17
with what's around the bend彎曲,
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這樣車就能防止碰撞,因爲他們能看到拐角,
08:19
or we can look for survivors倖存者 in hazardous危險 conditions條件
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或者我們可以搜尋幸存者,
08:23
by looking at light reflected反射的 through通過 open打開 windows視窗,
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因爲我們能看到在窗戶上反射的光,
08:27
or we can build建立 endoscopes內窺鏡 that can see
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或者我們可以建造透視儀,
08:30
deep inside the body身體 around occluders封堵器,
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來看到身體裏的情況,
08:33
and also for cardioscopescardioscopes.
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我們甚至可以透視心臟。
08:35
But of course課程, because of tissue組織 and blood血液,
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但當然,由於各種組織和血液的幹擾,
08:37
this is quite相當 challenging具有挑戰性的, so this is really a call
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這回相當困難,
08:39
for scientists科學家們 to start開始 thinking思維 about femto-photography毫微微攝影
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所以我們呼籲科學家來真正重視飛秒成像,
08:42
as really a new imaging成像 modality形態 to solve解決
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把這個技術作爲一種
08:45
the next下一個 generation of health健康 imaging成像 problems問題.
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解決下一代健康問題的新模型。
08:48
Now, like Doc文件 Edgerton埃傑頓, a scientist科學家 himself他自己,
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現在,就像Edgerton博士,一個科學家,
08:52
science科學 became成為 art藝術, an art藝術 of ultra-fast超快 photography攝影,
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科學變成了藝術,一種高速攝影藝術,
08:58
and I realized實現 that all the gigabytes千兆字節 of data數據
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而且我意識到我們每次
09:01
that we're collecting蒐集 every一切 time
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大量資料
09:03
is not just for scientific科學 imaging成像, but we can also do
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不僅是科學成像,
09:06
a new form形成 of computational計算 photography攝影
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而是一種新的計算性攝影,
09:10
with time-lapse時間推移 and color-coding顏色編碼,
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這種技術蘊含了時間延遲和彩色編碼,
09:14
and we look at those ripples漣漪. Remember記得,
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我們看這些波紋。
09:17
the time between之間 each of those ripples漣漪 is only
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記住,這些波紋之間的時間
09:20
a few少數 trillionths萬億分之 of a second第二.
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僅僅是幾個萬億分之一秒。
09:24
But there's also something funny滑稽 going on here.
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但有些有趣的事正在發生,
09:26
When you look at the ripples漣漪 under the cap,
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當你看到這些蓋子下的波紋時,
09:28
the ripples漣漪 are moving移動 away from us.
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他們正在離我們遠去。
09:32
The ripples漣漪 should be moving移動 towards us.
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但這些波紋應該向我們移動。
09:34
What's going on here?
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發生了什麽?
09:36
It turns out, because we're recording記錄
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結果是,因爲我們在以接近光速
09:38
nearly幾乎 at the speed速度 of light,
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來錄這些東西,
09:43
we have strange奇怪 effects效果,
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我們有一些奇怪的現象,
09:45
and Einstein愛因斯坦 would have loved喜愛 to see this picture圖片.
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愛因斯坦會相當高興看到這些圖片。
09:49
The order訂購 at which哪一個 events事件 take place地點 in the world世界
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事件發生的順序
09:52
appear出現 in the camera相機 with sometimes有時 reversed反向的 order訂購,
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在相機裏有時候被反轉了,
09:56
so by applying應用 the corresponding相應 space空間 and time warp,
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所以通過對應時間和空間的扭曲,
10:00
we can correct正確 for this distortion失真.
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我們可以修正這個扭曲。
10:04
So whether是否 it's for photography攝影 around corners角落,
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所以不管是看到拐角,
10:08
or creating創建 the next下一個 generation of health健康 imaging成像,
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還是爲下一代製造健康影像,
10:12
or creating創建 new visualizations可視化,
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還是增加新的可視化,
10:15
since以來 our invention發明, we have open-sourced開源
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自從我們的發明,
10:19
all the data數據 and details細節 on our website網站, and our hope希望
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我們就已經把所有的資料和細節放到了我們的網上,
10:22
is that the DIYDIY, the creative創作的 and the research研究 community社區
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並且我們希望,這個DIY,這個創意的研究團體,
10:29
will show顯示 us that we should stop obsessing沉迷 about
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可以告訴我們
10:33
the megapixels百萬像素 in cameras相機 — (Laughter笑聲) —
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我們不應該再迷上高像素 —(笑聲)—
10:36
and start開始 focusing調焦 on the next下一個 dimension尺寸 in imaging成像.
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而開始關注成像技術的另一個維度。
10:41
It's about time. Thank you. (Applause掌聲)
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時間差不多了。謝謝。
(掌聲)
10:46
(Applause掌聲)
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(掌聲)
Translated by Yilun Zhou

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ramesh Raskar - Femto-photographer
Photography is about creating images by recording light. At the MIT media lab, professor Ramesh Raskar and his team members have invented a camera that can photograph light itself as it moves at, well, the speed of light.

Why you should listen

In 1964 MIT professor Harold Edgerton, pioneer of stop-action photography, famously took a photo of a bullet piercing an apple using exposures as short as a few nanoseconds. Inspired by his work, Ramesh Raskar and his team set out to create a camera that could capture not just a bullet (traveling at 850 meters per second) but light itself (nearly 300 million meters per second).

Stop a moment to take that in: photographing light as it moves. For that, they built a camera and software that can visualize pictures as if they are recorded at 1 trillion frames per second. The same photon-imaging technology can also be used to create a camera that can peer "around" corners , by exploiting specific properties of the photons when they bounce off surfaces and objects.

Among the other projects that Raskar is leading, with the MIT Media Lab's Camera Culture research group, are low-cost eye care devices, a next generation CAT-Scan machine and human-computer interaction systems.

Papers: 

Andreas Velten, Thomas Willwacher, Otkrist Gupta, Ashok Veeraraghavan, Moungi G. Bawendi and Ramesh Raskar, “Recovering ThreeDimensional Shape around a Corner using Ultra-Fast Time-of-Flight Imaging.” Nature Communications, March 2012

Andreas Velten, Adrian Jarabo, Belen Masia, Di Wu, Christopher Barsi, Everett Lawson, Chinmaya Joshi, Diego Gutierrez, Moungi G. Bawendi and Ramesh Raskar, "Ultra-fast Imaging for Light in Motion" (in progress). http://femtocamera.info

More profile about the speaker
Ramesh Raskar | Speaker | TED.com