Atomic time scale imaging

opening a new era for studying dynamics in microcosmos

is presently attracting immense research interest on the global level due to its powerful ability. On the atom level

physics

chemistry

and biology are identical for researching atom motion and atomic state change. The light possesses twoness

the information carrier and the research resource. The most fundamental principle of this imaging is that light records the event-modulated light field by itself

so-called all-optical imaging. This paper can answer what is the essential standard to develop and evaluate atomic time scale imaging

what is the optimal imaging system

and what are the typical techniques to implement this imaging

up to now. At present

the best record in the experiment

made by multistage optical parametric amplification (MOPA)

is realizing 50-fs resolved optical imaging with a spatial resolution of ~83 lp/mm at an effective framing rate of 15 × 1012 fps for recording an ultrafast optical lattice with its rotating speed up to 13.5 × 1012 rad/s.