Subpicosecond imaging system based on electrooptic effect

This work presents an ultrafast, interferometric electrooptic sampling system that uses a two-dimensional detector array to image the electric field present on a device, Spatial and temporal resolution are comparable to conventional ''point'' electrooptic sampling systems, <5 mu m and <1 ps, respectively, Voltage sensitivity is expected to be 270 mV and may achieve less than 4 mV with sensor cooling and a more effective electrooptic material. A coplanar silicon structure with 10-mu m feature size would have a held sensitivity of 27 kV/m and 400 V/m, respectively, This compares favorably with the reported sensitivity of 10(5) V/m for prior imagers and 10 V/m for point samplers, Applications for an E-field ''imager'' include characterization of field distributions in planar passive microwave devices, multiport analog and digital devices, and studying device and materials physics.