Rapid-scan acousto-optical delay line with 34 kHz scan rate and 15 attosecond precision

TL;DR

This paper introduces a rapid optical delay line using acousto-optic interaction in a birefringent crystal, achieving high precision and fast scan rates suitable for ultrafast laser applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel acousto-optic delay line with 34 kHz scan rate and 15 attosecond precision, enabling rapid and precise control of ultrashort optical pulses.

Findings

Achieves 15 as delay precision with a 34 kHz scan rate.

Delays pulses up to 6 ps with femtosecond resolution.

Improves to 39 as precision with multiple scans at 0.3 kHz.

Abstract

An optical fast-scan delay exploiting the near-collinear interaction between a train of ultrashort optical pulses and an acoustic wave propagating in a birefringent crystal is introduced. In combination with a femtosecond Er:fiber laser, the scheme is shown to delay few-fs pulses by up to 6 ps with a precision of 15 as. A resolution of 5 fs is obtained for a single sweep at a repetition rate of 34 kHz. This value can be improved to 39 as for multiple scans at a total rate of 0.3 kHz.