Using Pulse-Front Tilt to Measure Laser Pulses Less Than 100 Picoseconds in Duration

Abstract

We demonstrate a frequency-resolved optical grating (FROG) device for measuring the intensity and phase versus time of several-tens-of-picoseconds laser pulses, using a thick nonlinear optical crystal. The huge pulse-front tilt generated by a holographic grating increases the temporal range of the device, which can make a single-shot measurement of laser pulses less than 100 ps in duration. To verify the measurement technique, we generate double pulses using a Michelson interferometer. The measured duration of a single pulse is about 300 fs and the measured maximum delay of two pulses is 60 ps, which implies that the proposed FROG device can measure laser pulses with maximum pulse width of about 120 ps.