Scientists say they have vastly improved duration limits on ultra-high-speed cameras fast enough to track pulses of light.

In a demonstration, technology developed by Feng Chen of Xi'an Jiaotong University in Shaanxi, China and Lidai Wang at the City University of Hong Kong, show substantial improvements to a new crop of cameras that can capture trillions of frames per second.

While prior versions of the cameras were only able to film in extremely short durations -- a few shots -- researchers say their method can capture up to 60 shots allowing wielders to track the path of light through surfaces and more.

The image above shows the writing of a letter A over the course of 12 trillionths of a second. Each colour represents an image seen at a separate wavelength of light, while the columns represent time

The new method improves on prior versions of the cameras which were limited in their storage capabilities.

In a new method called 'compressive sampling' allows the images to 'overlap' on a CCD -- a small chip-like device that converts charges into a digital format that is used in image processing.

With an increase number of shots, researchers hope that ultra-fast imaging can be more easily used in a number of applications, some of which lie within the field of optics, lasers, and medicine (i.e. studying laser eye surgery)

'The experiments demonstrate a remarkable imaging speed,' says computational imaging expert Jinyang Liang of the University of Quebec in Canada who developed his own.

'With further development, it might also be used as an advanced imaging tool to inspect biological samples in laser surgeries and imaging-based disease diagnosis.'

A new method of storage helps ultra fast cameras capture videos that are more than twice the length of previous versions

The research seems to build upon devices like one built by Liang last year which can capture light move in slow motion, grabbing a monumental 10 trillion frames per second announced last year.

As noted by TechCrunch, however, Caltech's camera, because of limitations in its storage, was only capable of capturing about 25 frames -- less than half the amount of the newest technology from Chinese researchers.

Applications of ultra high speed cameras include studying lasers, optics, and even medicine

That technology, said Liang, could even improve further to capture an almost unfathomable amount of frames.

'We already see possibilities for increasing the speed to up to one quadrillion (1015) frames per second!' the researcher told TechCrunch.

Already reseachers say they're looking to improve the length of movies made with the ultra-fast imaging. With a few adjustments, scientists said the device may be able to expand its scope beyond 60 frames.

'By using a broader spectrum light source, we can achieve a larger frame number without compromising the imaging speed,' said Chen in a statement.