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Photon Film

Short answer: In 2020, Edoardo Charbon's AQUA lab at EPFL and Canon unveiled MegaX, the first megapixel camera built from single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), pixels sensitive enough to register one photon at a time.

It records up to 24,000 frames per second, but it can also open its pixels for gates just nanoseconds long and shift them in steps of picoseconds (trillionths of a second). Repeating a laser pulse and stepping the gate let the team rebuild a laser pulse flying past optics, slowed down hundreds of millions of times. The 'trillion frames per second' figure the Reel uses belongs to other projects: MIT's 2011 femto-photography and Caltech's 2018 T-CUP, which reached 10 trillion frames per second.

VideoWrite-up6 sources
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What should you know about Photon Film?

Quick facts. Each one stands alone and has a stable ID you can cite.

  1. EPFL and Canon's MegaX, unveiled in 2020, was the first megapixel camera made of single-photon avalanche diodes.

    DD-067-F01 · Write-up · Exhibit A (What EPFL built)

  2. MegaX records up to 24,000 frames per second; trillion-frame-per-second results came from MIT (2011) and Caltech (2018).

    DD-067-F02 · Write-up · Exhibit E (Where 'trillions' comes from)

Video transcript: Photon Film: A Camera That Films Light Itself Moving

DID YOU KNOW? Swiss scientists at EPFL developed a groundbreaking camera capable of capturing the motion of light at trillions of frames per second, fast enough to observe individual photons in action. Using advanced single photon avalanche diode sensors, combined with computational imaging techniques, the camera can reconstruct ultra-fast events by encoding each light pulse with unique temporal patterns. NOW YOU KNOW!

Burned-in captions, read frame by frame (see transcript.md) · 21.4s Reel ·

Video coming soonPhoton Film · Instagram Reel
Photon Film: A Camera That Films Light Itself Moving Instagram Reel · · 21.4s

The write-up

A camera that films light itself moving. EPFL's MegaX catches single photons and rebuilds a laser pulse in flight from many repeated shots.

  1. Exhibit A

    What EPFL built

    MegaX, from Edoardo Charbon's AQUA lab at EPFL with Canon, was the first megapixel SPAD camera, the result of about 15 years of SPAD research. It was described in Optica in 2020.

  2. Exhibit B

    Single-photon pixels

    Each pixel is a single-photon avalanche diode. One photon can trigger a measurable avalanche of current, so the sensor counts individual photons. That doesn't mean you see a single photon flying across the frame.

  3. Exhibit C

    Fast, but not trillions

    MegaX shoots up to 24,000 frames per second. To film light, the team opened its pixels for a 3.8-nanosecond gate and stepped it in 36-picosecond increments, building the video from many repeated laser pulses.

  4. Exhibit D

    Light in flight

    In a 2021 paper, the team used the camera to reconstruct a laser pulse moving through space in 4D, using machine learning and an effect called apparent superluminal motion.

  5. Exhibit E

    Where 'trillions' comes from

    MIT's 2011 femto-photography captured light at an effective rate of about a trillion frames per second using a streak camera and repeated pulses. Caltech's 2018 T-CUP reached 10 trillion frames per second in a single shot by encoding the scene with a pseudo-random pattern.

Questions people ask about Photon Film

Which company partnered with EPFL on MegaX?

It came from Edoardo Charbon's AQUA lab.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit A (What EPFL built) · MegaX: the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light (EPFL News, 2020); Morimoto et al., Megapixel time-gated SPAD image sensor for 2D and 3D imaging applications (Optica, 2020)

What does a SPAD pixel detect?

One photon triggers an avalanche of current.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit B (Single-photon pixels) · MegaX: the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light (EPFL News, 2020); Morimoto et al., Megapixel time-gated SPAD image sensor for 2D and 3D imaging applications (Optica, 2020)

What is MegaX's top frame rate?

The light-in-flight video came from picosecond gate steps.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit C (Fast, but not trillions) · MegaX: the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light (EPFL News, 2020); Morimoto et al., Superluminal Motion-Assisted Four-Dimensional Light-in-Flight Imaging (Physical Review X, 2021)

What did the 2021 paper reconstruct?

It used machine learning and apparent superluminal motion.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit D (Light in flight) · Morimoto et al., Superluminal Motion-Assisted Four-Dimensional Light-in-Flight Imaging (Physical Review X, 2021)

Which lab reached 10 trillion frames per second in 2018?

Its T-CUP system works in a single shot.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit E (Where 'trillions' comes from) · Trillion-frame-per-second video (MIT News, 2011); Velten et al., Femto-photography: capturing and visualizing the propagation of light (ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2013); Liang, Zhu & Wang, Single-shot real-time femtosecond imaging of temporal focusing (Light: Science & Applications, 2018)

Test Your Knowledge

All quizzes →

5 questions, all from this case file. Answers are revealed instantly.

  1. Which company partnered with EPFL on MegaX?

    1. Sony
    2. Canon
    3. Nikon
    4. Samsung
    Show the answer

    Answer: B. Canon It came from Edoardo Charbon's AQUA lab. Source: Write-up · Exhibit A (What EPFL built) · MegaX: the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light (EPFL News, 2020); Morimoto et al., Megapixel time-gated SPAD image sensor for 2D and 3D imaging applications (Optica, 2020)

  2. What does a SPAD pixel detect?

    1. Sound
    2. Single photons
    3. Heat only
    4. Radio waves
    Show the answer

    Answer: B. Single photons One photon triggers an avalanche of current. Source: Write-up · Exhibit B (Single-photon pixels) · MegaX: the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light (EPFL News, 2020); Morimoto et al., Megapixel time-gated SPAD image sensor for 2D and 3D imaging applications (Optica, 2020)

  3. What is MegaX's top frame rate?

    1. About 24,000 fps
    2. 1 trillion fps
    3. 60 fps
    4. 10 trillion fps
    Show the answer

    Answer: A. About 24,000 fps The light-in-flight video came from picosecond gate steps. Source: Write-up · Exhibit C (Fast, but not trillions) · MegaX: the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light (EPFL News, 2020); Morimoto et al., Superluminal Motion-Assisted Four-Dimensional Light-in-Flight Imaging (Physical Review X, 2021)

  4. What did the 2021 paper reconstruct?

    1. A 4D laser pulse in flight
    2. A black hole
    3. A lightning strike
    4. A star
    Show the answer

    Answer: A. A 4D laser pulse in flight It used machine learning and apparent superluminal motion. Source: Write-up · Exhibit D (Light in flight) · Morimoto et al., Superluminal Motion-Assisted Four-Dimensional Light-in-Flight Imaging (Physical Review X, 2021)

  5. Which lab reached 10 trillion frames per second in 2018?

    1. EPFL
    2. MIT
    3. Caltech
    4. CERN
    Show the answer

    Answer: C. Caltech Its T-CUP system works in a single shot. Source: Write-up · Exhibit E (Where 'trillions' comes from) · Trillion-frame-per-second video (MIT News, 2011); Velten et al., Femto-photography: capturing and visualizing the propagation of light (ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2013); Liang, Zhu & Wang, Single-shot real-time femtosecond imaging of temporal focusing (Light: Science & Applications, 2018)

Cite this case file

Easterling, Marcus. "Photon Film." The Detail Department (DetailEnjoyer), case file DD-067, last updated Nov 1, 2025. https://detailenjoyer.com/case/photon-film/

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