# Picosecond

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{{Short description|One trillionth of a second}}
{{Infobox unit
| name     = picosecond
| image    = 
| caption  = 
| symbol   = ps
| standard = [SI](/source/SI)
| quantity = [time](/source/time)
| units1   = [SI units](/source/SI_units)
| inunits1 = {{val|e=-12|ul=s}}
}}
A '''picosecond''' (abbreviated as '''ps''') is a [unit of time](/source/unit_of_time) in the [International System of Units](/source/International_System_of_Units) (SI) equal to 10<sup>−12</sup> or {{frac|1|1 000 000 000 000}} (one trillionth) of a [second](/source/second).  That is one trillionth, or one millionth of one millionth of a second, or 0.000&nbsp;000&nbsp;000&nbsp;001 seconds.

A picosecond is to one second, as one second is to approximately 31,688.76 years.

Multiple technical approaches achieve imaging within single-digit picoseconds: for example, the [streak camera](/source/streak_camera) or [intensified CCD (ICCD) cameras](/source/Intensified_charge-coupled_device) are able to picture the motion of light.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/trillion-fps-camera-1213.html|title=Trillion-frame-per-second video|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|access-date=2014-03-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stanfordcomputeroptics.com/applications/iccd-methods/ultra-high-speed-imaging.html|title=Ultra high speed CCD cameras capture the motion of light.|publisher=Stanford Computer Optics|access-date=2014-03-06}}</ref>

One picosecond is equal to 1000 [femtosecond](/source/femtosecond)s, or 1/1000 [nanosecond](/source/nanosecond)s.  Because the next SI unit is 1000 times larger, measurements of 10<sup>−11</sup> and 10<sup>−10</sup> second are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of picoseconds.  Some notable measurements in this range include:

* 1.0 picoseconds (1.0 ps) – cycle time for electromagnetic frequency 1 [terahertz](/source/Terahertz_(unit)) (THz), an inverse unit. This corresponds to a wavelength of 0.3&nbsp;mm, as can be calculated by multiplying 1&nbsp;ps by the [speed of light](/source/speed_of_light) (approximately 3 × 10<sup>8</sup> m/s) to determine the distance traveled. 1 THz is in the [far infrared](/source/far_infrared).
* 1 picosecond – time taken by light in vacuum to travel approximately 0.30&nbsp;mm
* 1 picosecond – half-life of a [bottom quark](/source/bottom_quark)
* ~1 picosecond – lifetime of a single {{chem|H|3|O|+}} ([hydronium](/source/hydronium)) ion in water at 20&nbsp;°C<ref>{{cite web |url= http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/bionumber.aspx?id=106550 |title= Lifetime of single hydronium (H3O+) ion at 20°C |publisher= BioNumbers |access-date=2011-10-10 }}</ref>
* picoseconds to nanoseconds – phenomena observable by [dielectric spectroscopy](/source/dielectric_spectroscopy)
* 1.2 picoseconds – switching time of the world's fastest [transistor](/source/transistor) (845&nbsp;GHz, as of 2006)<ref>{{cite web |author=Kloeppel |first=James E. |date=December 11, 2006 |title=World's Fastest Transistor Approaches Goal of Terahertz Device |url=http://news.illinois.edu/news/06/1211transistor.html |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427064017/http://news.illinois.edu/news/06/1211transistor.html |archive-date=April 27, 2011 |website=University of Illinois News Bureau |publisher=[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign](/source/University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign)}}</ref>
* 1.7 picoseconds – [rotational correlation time](/source/rotational_correlation_time) of water<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lankhorst|first=D.|author2=Schriever, J. |author3=Leyte, J. C. |title=Determination of the Rotational Correlation Time of Water by Proton NMR Relaxation in H217O and Some Related Results|journal=Berichte der Bunsengesellschaft für physikalische Chemie|year=1982|volume=86|issue=3|pages=215–221|doi=10.1002/bbpc.19820860308}}</ref>
* 3.3 picoseconds (approximately) – time taken for [light](/source/light) to travel 1 [millimeter](/source/millimeter)
* 10 picoseconds after the [Big Bang](/source/Big_Bang) – [electromagnetism](/source/electromagnetism) separates from the other [fundamental force](/source/fundamental_force)s
* 34 picoseconds – signal [rise time](/source/rise_time) (20% to 80%) of a [SFP+](/source/SFP%2B) transmitter for [10 Gigabit Ethernet](/source/10_Gigabit_Ethernet).<ref>{{cite web|title=SFF-8431 Specifications for Enhanced Small Form Factor Pluggable Module SFP+|author=SFF Committee|url=https://www.10gtek.com/templates/wzten/pdf/SFF-8431-(SFP+%20MSA).pdf}}</ref>
* 10 to 150 picoseconds – [rotational correlation time](/source/rotational_correlation_time)s of a molecule (184 g/mol) from hot to frozen water<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Bulla | first1 = I. | last2 = Törmälä | first2 = P. | last3 = Lindberg | first3 = J. J. | last4 = Mikalsen | first4 = Ø. | last5 = Southern | first5 = J. T. | last6 = Edlund | first6 = K. | last7 = Eliasen | first7 = M. | last8 = Herskind | first8 = C. | last9 = Laursen | first9 = T. | last10 = Pedersen | first10 = P. M. L. | title = Spin Probe Studies on the Dynamic Structure of Dimethyl Sulfoxide-Water Mixtures | journal = Acta Chemica Scandinavica | volume = 29a | pages = 89–92 | year = 1975 | doi = 10.3891/acta.chem.scand.29a-0089| doi-access = free }}</ref>
* 100 picoseconds – [Unit Interval](/source/Unit_interval_(data_transmission)) of a 10 Gbit/s [serial communication](/source/serial_communication) link, such as [USB 3.1](/source/USB_3.1).<ref>{{cite web|title=Universal Serial Bus 3.1 Specification|url=https://manuais.iessanclemente.net/images/b/bc/USB_3_1_r1.0.pdf}}</ref>
* 108.7827757 picoseconds – transition time between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the [caesium-133](/source/Caesium) atom at [absolute zero](/source/absolute_zero)
* 330 picoseconds (approximately) – the time it takes a common 3.0 [GHz](/source/GHz) computer [CPU](/source/CPU) to complete a processing cycle

==See also==
* [SI unit](/source/SI_unit)
* [Second](/source/Second)
* [Nanosecond](/source/Nanosecond)
* [Microsecond](/source/Microsecond)
* [Millisecond](/source/Millisecond)
* [Jiffy (time)](/source/Jiffy_(time))
* [Orders of magnitude (time)](/source/Orders_of_magnitude_(time))

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/enc-p.cfm National Institute for Standards and Technology Glossary]

{{Orders of magnitude seconds}}

Category:Orders of magnitude (time)

[fr:1 E-12 s](/source/fr%3A1_E-12_s)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Picosecond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picosecond) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picosecond?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.