Petahertz-scale nonlinear photoconductive sampling in air

Abstract

The electric field waveform of a light field can be used to unlock a detailed recording of its interaction with matter, but accessing it requires a measurement with subfemtosecond temporal resolution. We demonstrate nonlinear photoconductive sampling of light fields at optical frequencies in ambient air. The resulting detection method provides broadband electric field measurement in an inexpensive setup using a self-healing medium. A direct comparison is made between detection in air and in quartz, validating the technique up to 0.7 PHz. This provides both a simple route toward field metrology and a new platform for future studies in attosecond physics without the need for complex vacuum setups or sophisticated sample preparation.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 26, 2021
Source ID
10.1364/optica.411434

Entities

People

  • Dmitry Zimin
  • Ferenc Krausz
  • Johannes Schötz
  • Matthew Weidman
  • Matthias F Kling
  • Nicholas Karpowicz
  • Vladislav S. Yakovlev

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • European Research Council
  • German Research Foundation
  • Institute of Nanotechnology
  • King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design