Spectral shearing interferometry with spatially chirped replicas for measuring ultrashort pulses.
A new spectral shearing interferometry technique for ultrashort pulse characterization is demonstrated. The method makes use of a spectral shear that varies across the test pulse beam profile to generate a two-dimensional interferogram that allows simultaneous reference phase measurement and pulse-field reconstruction from a single data set. The method uses a new configuration for upconversion of a single (non-spatially chirped) test pulse with two spatially chirped ancillary pulses in a medium with a highly asymmetric phase matching function. This technique is particularly suited for spectral regions where second harmonic is much easier detectable that the fundamental wavelength, such as telecom band around 1.5 &mu;m, since all the data are available from the measurement at the upconverted wavelength. The high degree of redundancy in the two-dimensional interferogram provides a built-in check of the consistency of the reconstruction.
Gorza
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SP
Wasylczyk
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P
Walmsley
I A
IA