It’s the fastest flexible silicon phototransistor ever made — and it’s making big waves in the scientific community.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin have discovered how to create a flexible phototransistor that outperforms all others currently available on the market in both sensitivity and response time, and it could be used in anything from digital cameras to satellites, according to a UPI report.

For photographers, it could be a dream, delivering the clearest, most high definition images we have ever seen.

Why are phototransistors so important in photography? It’s because they act like our eyes do, turning light into an electrical pulse that, in the case of mammals, is sent to the brain, and in the case of digital cameras, transcribed into code and then turned into an image.

Zhenqiang Ma, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Wisconsin, said in a statement that the new phototransistor works so well because it uses a innovative new technique called “flip-transfer” fabrication, which uses an ultrathin silicon nanomembrane layer and combines it with a metal layer, making it absorb light much better than other phototransistors out there today. “In this structure — unlike other photodetectors — light absorption in an ultrathin silicon layer can be much more efficient because light is not blocked by any metal layers or other materials,” he said.

The technology could be a boon for a number of industries, and not just photography. It could be used in a number of photodetection systems, as well as satellites, night-vision goggles, and many other types of technology that depend on phototransistors.

The findings were published in the journal Advanced Optic Materials.