Fastest Camera

The world's fastest camera for imaging individual protons in the so-called soft X-ray range has begun operations. It was developed by an international consortium which includes physicists from Heidelberg University. The so-called DSSC detector is being used at the European XFEL research facility in Hamburg. There, ultrashort X-ray flashes are generated in underground tunnels, enabling researchers to see the atomic details of viruses or to film chemical reactions, for example. In experiments at the XFEL, ultrashort X-ray flashes are fired at the sample being studied. The X-rays diffract off the atoms in the sample, resulting in a distinctive pattern that is recorded by the detector located behind the sample. The DSSC can acquire 4.5 million images per second until the capacity of the 800 internal memory cells is reached.