The point-spread function of an optical system determines its optical resolution for both spatial and temporal imaging. For spatial imaging, it is given by a Fourier transform of the pupil function of the system. For ...The point-spread function of an optical system determines its optical resolution for both spatial and temporal imaging. For spatial imaging, it is given by a Fourier transform of the pupil function of the system. For temporal imaging based on nonlinear optical processes, such as sum-frequency generation or four-wave mixing, the pointspread function is related to the waveform of the pump wave by a nonlinear transformation. We compare the point-spread functions of three temporal imaging schemes： sum-frequency generation, co-propagating four-wave mixing, and counter-propagating four-wave mixing, and demonstrate that the last scheme provides the best temporal resolution. Our results are valid for both quantum and classical temporal imaging.展开更多
基金support by the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China(Nos.2013AA122902 and 2013AA122901)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.XDB21030200)
文摘The point-spread function of an optical system determines its optical resolution for both spatial and temporal imaging. For spatial imaging, it is given by a Fourier transform of the pupil function of the system. For temporal imaging based on nonlinear optical processes, such as sum-frequency generation or four-wave mixing, the pointspread function is related to the waveform of the pump wave by a nonlinear transformation. We compare the point-spread functions of three temporal imaging schemes： sum-frequency generation, co-propagating four-wave mixing, and counter-propagating four-wave mixing, and demonstrate that the last scheme provides the best temporal resolution. Our results are valid for both quantum and classical temporal imaging.
