Spatio-temporal characterization of ultrashort vector pulses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method combining Fourier transform spectroscopy and interferometry for detailed spatio-temporal characterization of ultrashort vector pulses, enabling complete analysis of their spectral and polarization properties.

Contribution

A new technique for comprehensive spatio-temporal measurement of ultrashort vector pulses using combined spectroscopy and interferometry.

Findings

Successfully characterized a 10 fs radially polarized pulse.

Provided spatially resolved spectral amplitudes and phases.

Demonstrated the method's capability with Ti:sapphire laser pulses.

Abstract

Ultrafast vectorially polarized pulses have found many applications in information and energy transfer owing mainly to the presence of strong longitudinal components and their space-polarization non-separability. Due to their broad spectrum, such pulses often exhibit space-time couplings, which significantly affect the pulse propagation dynamics leading to reduced energy density or utilized to create new effects like a rotating or sliding wavefront at focus. Here, we present a new method for the spatio-temporal characterization of ultrashort cylindrical vector pulses based on a combination of spatially resolved Fourier transform spectroscopy and Mach-Zehnder interferometry. The method provides access to spatially resolved spectral amplitudes and phases of all polarization components of the pulse. We demonstrate the capabilities of the method by completely characterizing a $10$~fs radially polarized pulse from a Ti:sapphire laser at $800$~nm.