Strong terahertz pulse induced Pockels and Kerr effect in crystalline quartz for ultrafast pulse switching

Ultrafast pulse switching is one of the key elements for ultrahigh speed communication technology. We study the terahertz (THz) induced birefringence response on the laser pulse through the quartz with different THz electric field strength. The magnitude of the observed Pockels signals scales linearly with the THz field amplitude, while the Kerr signals scale quadratically with the THz field amplitude. We demonstrate that the quartz is a good candidate for polarization modulation of 800 nm laser pulse, which has the advantages of low-cost, large bandgap, and negligible dispersion. Furthermore, our investigation finds application beyond ultrafast polarization switching, and the THz-induced polarization gating technique works as a tool for intense THz pulse detection.