Many transient or dynamic phenomena, taking not more than a few hundreds of microseconds, occur in science. Various testing and measurement techniques have been developed to study these phenomena. Recently, tremendous progress has been made through the introduction of high speed digital cameras together with advanced image processing techniques. In materials science, for instance, high speed imaging techniques have caused a real revolution. They have not only allowed to overcome the limitations of traditional tests, but have given rise to completely new test methods. In the consortium, imaging setups are available that allow capturing images up to 1 million frames per second (fps) though at a much reduced resolution. At present, however, ultrafast cameras, able to capture high resolution images up to 10 million fps, have become available and (relatively) affordable. In order to build performant, versatile ultra-high speed optical measurement setups, the present applicants request FWO to invest in an ultra-fast camera together with laser illumination. The consortium partners of UGent are convinced that the infrastructure will allow us to reveal dynamic phenomena that cannot be captured yet. As such, it will open new horizons in several scientific domains and will be beneficial for the entire science and engineering community of the Flemish region. At the same time, it will allow us to maintain our strong position in fields where test infrastructure plays a key role.