Single-scan, dual-functional interferometer for fast spatiotemporal characterization of few-cycle pulses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel dual-functional interferometer that enables rapid, single-scan, 3D spatiotemporal characterization of ultrashort laser pulses by combining FROG and radial shearing Michelson interferometry.

Contribution

The work presents an integrated interferometric setup capable of reconstructing complete spatiotemporal pulse information with a single scan, simplifying existing measurement techniques.

Findings

Enables fast 3D reconstruction of ultrashort pulses

Simultaneously captures spectral, temporal, and spatial data

Reduces measurement complexity and time

Abstract

Accurate and fast characterization of spatiotemporal information of high-intensity, ultrashort pulses is crucial in the field of strong-field laser science and technology. While conventional self-referenced interferometers were widely used to retrieve the spatial profile of the relative spectral phase of pulses, additional measurements of temporal and spectral information at a particular position of the laser beam were, however, necessary to remove the indeterminacy, which increases the system complexity. Here we report an advanced, dual-functional interferometer that is able to reconstruct the complete spatiotemporal information of ultrashort pulses with a single scan of the interferometer arm. The set-up integrates an interferometric frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) with a radial shearing Michelson interferometer. Trough scanning one arm of the interferometer, both cross-correlated FROG trace at the central part of the laser beam and delay-dependent interferograms of the entire laser profile are simultaneously obtained, allowing a fast 3-dimensional reconstruction of few-cycle laser pulses.