Picosecond optical sampling

A 10-channel optical-sampling technique has been developed to give oscilloscope displays of picosecond laser pulses in a single shot. Pulses with durations of 10-30 ps and powers ranging down to ∼ 1 W have been displayed with this technique. An ultrafast optical gate and a 10-channel multibeam splitter are used to cut out in one laser shot ten samples centered at 4.1-ps intervals from the leading to the lagging edge of the pulse. The ten optical samples are then spaced out at 10-ns intervals by means of an optical fiber array, detected by a fast photomultiplier, and displayed on a real-time oscilloscope. The envelope of the sample pulses represents a display of the laser pulse. This technique could substitute for picosecond streak cameras in certain applications.