Picosecond optical detection by high-speed sampling of photoelectrons

It is demonstrated that photoelectrons distributed in initial velocity can be extracted from electrically broad-band configurations with extremely high time resolutions. Properties and values of parameters characterizing real materials and laboratory-generated electrical sampling signals are used throughout the analysis. These results provide the basis for the design of practical high-speed sampling photodetectors that can extend the resolution of incoherent low-level optical signals to a few picoseconds.