Electro-optical sampling at near-zero optical bias

Abstract

We report a detailed study of distortion effects in electro-optical sampling measurement at near-zero optical bias. It is found that when the induced optical retardation has a dynamic range larger than the optical bias, a false polarity change of the field can be observed merely due to the amplitude change of the field under investigation. The distortion cannot be corrected in general. However, when the optical bias is known, this phenomenon can be exploited to derive the absolute field amplitude under study.