title: General ultrafast pulse measurement using the cross-correlation single-shot sonogram technique.
abstract: The cross-correlation single-shot sonogram technique offers exact pulse measurement and real-time pulse monitoring via an intuitive time-frequency trace whose shape and orientation directly indicate the spectral chirp of an ultrashort laser pulse. We demonstrate an algorithm that solves a fundamental limitation of the cross-correlation sonogram method, namely, that the time-gating operation is implemented using a replica of the measured pulse rather than the ideal delta-function-like pulse. Using a modified principal-components generalized projections algorithm, we experimentally show accurate pulse retrieval of an asymmetric double pulse, a case that is prone to systematic error when one is using the original sonogram retrieval algorithm.
authors.affiliation: Ultrafast Optics Group, Department of Physics, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK. d.t.reid@hw.ac.uk
authors.forename: Derryck T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garduno-Mejia