Collinear two colour Kerr effect based time-gate for ballistic imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces a collinear ultrafast Kerr effect optical time-gate for ballistic imaging, achieving improved resolution and gating times of around 0.8 ps, demonstrated on liquid sprays and jets.

Contribution

It proposes a novel collinear Kerr effect setup that overcomes classical non-collinear limitations, enhancing imaging resolution and reducing gate times.

Findings

Achieved ~0.8 ps gating times with the new setup

Demonstrated ballistic imaging of liquid sprays/jets

Used GGG crystal to reduce gate opening time

Abstract

A novel setup is presented for ballistic imaging using an efficient ultrafast Kerr effect based optical time-gate with gating times of the order of ~0.8 picoseconds. At first, the major drawbacks of the classical non-collinear optical setup are discussed. Then, the new collinear arrangement is proposed, which overcomes these issues and improves the achievable imaging spatial resolution and gate timings. Few preliminary results for ballistic imaging of liquid sprays/jets are presented for this arrangement. It is shown that using a solid state Kerr medium (GGG crystal), instead of the classical liquid CS$_2$, allows reduction in the opening time of the optical gate.