Seeing Ultrafast Light Clearer Than Ever
What if we could magnify ultra-fast optical signals in time, with zero distortion?
That’s exactly what a team at Bar-Ilan University has just achieved. They’ve developed a temporal chirpless near-field microscope, capable of magnifying time-domain optical signals without adding the usual residual "quadratic phase", a form of distortion that plagues conventional systems.
Why it matters:
Most temporal microscopes distort phase, which is fine for basic intensity measurements, but a deal-breaker for quantum optics, ultrafast communications, and next-gen signal processing. This new microscope removes that hurdle.
How it works:
Inspired by Galilean telescopes, this setup uses two time lenses and clever control of dispersion (aka how light spreads in fiber). The key is balancing group delay dispersions (GDDs) to eliminate phase distortion while achieving high temporal magnification, demonstrated up to 7× experimentally.
Highlights from the study:
- Achieved temporal imaging with no residual chirp, both in simulation and in the lab
- Allows inspection of evanescent and weakly guided modes before they fade
- Can analyze ultrashort pulses (~1 ps) with high fidelity
- Potential to scale and synchronize entangled photons for quantum networks
- Operates in the temporal near-field, allowing larger lens apertures and minimal signal loss
This tool could transform how we see and use ultrafast light, whether for measuring the quantum vacuum, improving time-domain spectrometers, or boosting fiber-optic infrastructure.
Huge kudos to Moti Fridman and Or Refaely for pushing the frontiers of time optics!
