Measuring the spatio-temporal field of diffracting ultrashort pulses

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to directly measure the detailed spatio-temporal structure of ultrashort diffracting pulses, revealing boundary wave phenomena and superluminal speeds with high resolution.

Contribution

It introduces a measurement technique combining SEA TADPOLE with aperture-based setups to capture ultrashort pulse fields in space and time.

Findings

Boundary wave pulses observed

Superluminal boundary wave speeds detected

High-resolution spatio-temporal measurements achieved

Abstract

Using SEA TADPOLE, we directly measure the spatio-temporal field of diffracting ultrashort pulses with femtosecond temporal and micrometer spatial resolutions. Using a circular aperture and an opaque disk, we observe boundary wave pulses including their superluminal speeds.