Observing non-repetitive and statistically rare signals that occur on short timescales requires fast real-time measurements that exceed the speed, precision and record length of conventional digitizers. Photonic time stretch is a data acquisition method that overcomes the speed limitations of electronic digitizers and enables continuous ultrafast single-shot spectroscopy, imaging, reflectometry, terahertz and other measurements at refresh rates reaching billions of frames per second with non-stop recording spanning trillions of consecutive frames. The technology has opened a new frontier in measurement science unveiling transient phenomena in nonlinear dynamics such as optical rogue waves and soliton molecules, and in relativistic electron bunching. It has also created a new class of instruments that have been integrated with artificial intelligence for sensing and biomedical diagnostics. We review the fundamental principles and applications of this emerging field for continuous phase and amplitude characterization at extremely high repetition rates via time-stretch spectral interferometry.

观察发生在短时间范围内的非重复性和统计上罕见的信号，需要快速的实时测量，而这些测量需要超过常规数字化仪的速度，精度和记录长度。光子时间延展是一种数据采集方法，它克服了电子数字化仪的速度限制，并能够以高达每秒数十亿帧的刷新率进行连续超快单次光谱，成像，反射法，太赫兹和其他测量，其不间断记录跨越了数万亿倍。连续的帧。该技术开启了测量科学的新领域，揭示了非线性动力学中的瞬态现象，例如光流浪和孤子分子，以及相对论电子束。它还创建了一种新类别的仪器，这些仪器已与人工智能集成在一起，用于传感和生物医学诊断。我们回顾了这个新兴领域的基本原理和应用，用于通过时间拉伸光谱干涉仪以极高的重复率进行连续相位和幅度表征。