Tenfold sensitivity increase in streak camera detection by propagation synchronous integration without compromising time resolution

Eduard Elias, Bart Sasbrink, Patrick Summ, Roberta Croce, Frank van Mourik*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

For many applications that involve measuring ultrafast optical phenomena, the streak camera is the device of choice because of its excellent time resolution, its high sensitivity, the possibility to simultaneously measure lifetimes and spectra, and because it can capture the temporal dynamics in a single shot. Nevertheless, to obtain a good time resolution, often narrow slits have to be employed that restrict the image source area and, therefore, limit the light collection efficiency in the experiment. For some applications, it is therefore challenging to find an acceptable balance between the time resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. To overcome this limitation, we have devised the propagation synchronous integration principle for the streak camera, in which an effective spatio-dependent time-shift in the excitation of a sample is introduced and counteracted by the streak sweep, thereby effectively allowing for an increased image source area while maintaining the optimal time resolution. Using the Optronis streak camera with tunable streak sweep and large (1 mm) photocathode width, we could achieve a sevenfold increase in light collection efficiency without affecting the time resolution. Furthermore, we were also able to achieve an 11-fold increase in light collection at the cost of a 26% decrease in the time resolution.

Original languageEnglish
Article number023101
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
JournalReview of Scientific Instruments
Volume95
Issue number2
Early online date15 Feb 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program No. 862201, project CAPITALISE, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) via a TOP grant (to R.C.).

FundersFunder number
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme862201
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

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