Ultrafast optical Kerr Gate at 1 GHz repetition rate by focusing on BBS glass

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an ultrafast optical Kerr gating technique using BBS glass, achieving 1 GHz operation with sub-200 femtosecond resolution, suitable for high-repetition-rate ultrafast optical detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Kerr gating scheme based on BBS glass with high nonlinearity, enabling ultrafast detection at 1 GHz with low pulse energy and high temporal resolution.

Findings

Achieved 175 fs time resolution.

Operated at 1 GHz repetition rate.

Used less than 1 nJ pulse energy.

Abstract

Efficient detection of ultrafast phenomena is central to modern optical sciences, driving advances in quantum science and technology, physical chemistry, and nanophotonics. When processes occur on sub-picosecond timescales, time-resolved methods such as transient absorption, up-conversion, and optical Kerr gating (OKG) can be utilized to probe these dynamics, though they are typically applied to ensembles rather than single emitters. The OKG technique offers high detection efficiency over a broad spectral range, making it particularly promising for ultrafast single-photon detection at high-repetition-rates. Here, we present an ultrafast scheme based on the third-order nonlinearity of bismuth borosilicate (BBS) glass, operating at a 1 GHz repetition rate with less than 1 nJ pulse energy under focusing, and achieving a time resolution down to 175 fs. BBS glass was selected for its high nonlinear coefficient, which enhances detection efficiency, sub-ps response time, and its compatibility with standard microscopy platforms.