Fieldoscopy at the quantum limit
We demonstrate a novel concept for measuring time-varying electric field transients of petahertz-scale photons down to a single-photon regime. We observe a clear breakdown of the classical regime consistent with our Monte Carlo model. We reach unprecedented yoctojoule-level (10⁻²⁴ J) sensitivity and a dynamic range exceeding 90 decibels. We utilize this capability to measure intrapulse light coherence - a regime inaccessible to conventional, time-averaged spectroscopy. This opens new avenues for quantum information, cryptography, and quantum light-matter interactions on sub-cycle time scales with attosecond precision.
Authors
- Dmitry A. Zimin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2507-1804)
- Arjun Ashoka
- Florentin Reiter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5217-3064)
- Akshay Rao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0320-2962)
Institutions
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Bridge University (SS)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Light Science & Applications
- Published
- 2026-02-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02066-8
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung