title: Measuring the spatiotemporal electric field of tightly focused ultrashort pulses with sub-micron spatial resolution.
abstract: We demonstrate a powerful and practical spectral interferometer with near-field scanning microscopy (NSOM) probes for measuring the spatiotemporal electric field of tightly focused ultrashort pulses with high spatial and spectral resolution. Our measurements involved numerical apertures as high as 0.44 and yielded the spatiotemporal field at and around the foci produced by two microscope objectives and several different lenses. For the first time, we measure the spatiotemporal field of the Bessel-like X-shaped pulse caused by spherical aberrations and a "fore-runner pulse" due to chromatic aberrations. We observed spatial features smaller than 1 microm and verified these results with non-paraxial simulations.
authors.affiliation: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Physics, 837 State St NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. PamBowlan@gatech.edu
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bowlan
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Trebino
authors.forename: Uwe D
authors.initials: UD
authors.lastname: Zeitner
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020527:Microscopy, Scanning Probe / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers