Amplified dispersive Fourier-transform imaging for ultrafast displacement sensing and barcode reading

Dispersive Fourier transformation is a powerful technique in which the spectrum of an optical pulse is mapped into a time-domain waveform using chromatic dispersion. It replaces a diffraction grating and detector array with a dispersive fiber and single photodetector. This simplifies the system and, more importantly, enables fast real-time measurements. Here we describe a novel ultrafast barcode reader and displacement sensor that employs internally amplified dispersive Fourier transformation. This technique amplifies and simultaneously maps the spectrally encoded barcode into a temporal waveform. It achieves a record acquisition speed of 25 MHz-four orders of magnitude faster than the current state of the art. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.