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We present a method allowing THz pulses to be recorded in single-shot at tens of MHz repetition rates and long record lengths, using a combination of the time-stretch data acquisition and electro-optic sampling techniques.

The photonic time-stretch technique allows electric field pulse shapes to be recorded with picosecond resolution, at megahertz acquisition rates. Using this strategy, we could directly record spatial patterns that spontaneously appear in relativistic electron bunches, and follow their dynamical evolution over time. We present recent results obtained using two strategies. At SOLEIL, we present the shapes of the THz pulses which are emitted by the structures, and detected far from the emission point, at the end of a beamline. At ANKA, we present how it has been possible to monitor directly the electron bunch near-field. These new types of single-shot recordings allow direct and stringent tests to be performed on electron bunch dynamical models in synchrotron radiation facilities.

Photonic time-stretch enables to record electric field pulse shapes with picosecond resolution, at megahertz acquisition rates. Using this strategy, we could record the complex spatiotemporal evolution of relativistic electron bunches circulating in storage ring accelerators. We tested two complementary approaches. At SOLEIL, we monitored the THz pulses of coherent synchrotron that are emitted by the electrons. At ANKA, we monitored directly the electron bunch near-field.

We demonstrate a new and simple solution to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering in fiber optical parametric amplifiers. Cumbersome PRBS or sinusoidal generators used to broaden the pump spectrum are replaced by a filtered microwave noise source. Stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold can be increased up to large values still keeping an excellent quality of amplification of nonreturn to zero signals. The simplicity and the performances of this setup open the way for a wide variety of applications for FOPAs.

Single-shot recording of terahertz electric signals has recently become possible at high repetition rates, by using the photonic time-stretch electro-optic sampling (EOS) technique. However the moderate sensitivity of time-stretch EOS is still a strong limit for a range of applications. Here we present a variant enabling to increase the sensitivity of photonic time-stretch for free-propagating THz signals. A key point is to integrate the idea presented in Ref. [Ahmed et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 013114 (2014)], for upgrading classical time-stretch systems. The method is tested using the high repetition rate terahertz coherent synchrotron radiation source (CSR) of the SOLEIL synchrotron radiation facility. The signal-to-noise ratio of our terahertz digitizer could thus be straightforwardly improved by a factor $\approx 6.5$, leading to a noise-equivalent input electric field below $1.25$~V/cm inside the electro-optic crystal, over the 0-300~GHz band (i.e, 2.3~$\mu$V/cm/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$). The sensitivity is scalable with respect to the available laser power, potentially enabling further sensitivity improvements when needed., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures