Fastest infrared spectrometer

Infrared (IR) spectrometry is used all over the world for analysing everything from gasses causing climate change to ensuring food is safe to eat. Until recently, the fastest IR spectrometer in the world could sample 1 million spectra per second; it works by looking at the way wavelengths of infrared light are affected by the medium they are measuring. Now, researchers at the Institute for Photon Science and Technology, at the University of Tokyo, Japan have created a spectrometer that can sample at 80 million samples per second - a huge increase in analytical power. This is achieved by 'slowing down' a laser pulse as it comes from the sample material using a brand new detector invented specifically for this job - a quantum cascade detector. The speed at which this device operates means that it can analyse substances in one second that would have taken two years only decades ago.