Abstract

We introduce a new, real time (i.e. non-sampling) measurement technique that is generally applicable to the characterization of picosecond and subpicosecond optical modulation phenomena. Here, we describe the technique as it is applied to the investigation of picosecond electrical transients. Preliminary experiments have demonstrated a modulator limited temporal resolution of one picosecond and the potential for analyzing signals on a single shot basis. The system is based on the real time modulation of a relatively long, frequency swept (chirped) optical probe pulse, thus encoding temporal information as a function of wavelength. A spectrograph then converts the wavelength encoded temporal information to the spatial domain for readout.

© 1986 Optical Society of America