A Compact Synchroscan Streak Camera Using a Microchannel Plate Incorporated Tube

A compact synchroscan streak camera, which incorporates a microchannel plates providing a high light gain, has been constructed. The camera has been operated in synchronism with a synchronous-passive hybrid mode-locked CW dye laser, and the overall time resolution has been 10.8 and 25.9 ps for a recording of ~160 and ~108 cycles of dye laser pulses, respectively. In addition, by using the camera system with the dye laser a weak fluorescence profile (a quantum yield of ~10-3) of an important biomolecule has been directly observed on a picosecond time scale.