The device, which is about one thousand times faster than other bar code readers, uses a new imaging technique that can produce one-dimensional bar codes with a frame rate on the order of 25 million frames per second, the university said Monday.

The findings are published in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

UCLA said the device, dubbed the CWEETS scanner, uses "chirped wavelength electronic encoded time domain sampling." The scanner maps the one-dimensional bar code image onto the spectrum of an ultrashort laser pulse and then maps that into an amplitude-modulated waveform that is captured with a single optical-to-electrical converter.

While traditional camera-based bar code readers require an array of pixels to capture the image, the new imager requires only a single pixel and is free of mechanically moving parts, the report said.