title: Femtosecond single-shot correlation system: a time-domain approach.
abstract: We introduce, analyze, and experimentally demonstrate what to the best of our knowledge is a new pulse correlation technique that is capable of real-time conversion of a femtosecond pulse sequence into its spatial image. Our technique uses a grating at the entrance of the system, thus introducing a transverse time delay (TTD) into the transform-limited reference pulse. The shaped signal pulses and the TTD reference pulse are mixed in a nonlinear optical crystal (LiB(3)O(5)), thus producing a second-harmonic field that carries the spatial image of the temporal shaped signal pulse. We show that the time scaling of the system is set by the magnification of the anamorphic imaging system as well as by the grating frequency and that the time window of the system is set by the size of the grating aperture. Our experimental results show a time window of approximately 20 ps. We also show that the chirp information of the shaped pulse can be recovered by measurement of the spectrum of the resulting second-harmonic field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0407, USA. koba@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oba
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Mazurenko
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fainman