Ultrashort laser pulse characterization techniques

Abstract

There are several competing techniques for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses. Here we report the studies that we have done in the laboratory. These techniques use the autocorrelation or cross-correlation of the signals. The spectral properties of almost-Gaussian functions were applied for the second-order approximation of the coefficients of Hermite-Gaussian functions that described almost perfect pulses. Other techniques are discussed such as frequency-resolved optical-gating (FROG), which is a time-dependent intensity and phase of the laser pulse, the sonogram of an ultrashort pulse using a two-photon detector which is sensitive and robust, SPIDER which measures the interference between two pulses separated in time which are identical except for their central frequencies. Finally, the ambiguity-Wigner function properties were applied for the characterization of ultrashort pulses.