Measurement of Ultrashort Laser Pulses With a Time-Dependent Polarization State Using the D-Scan Technique

TL;DR

This paper extends the d-scan technique to measure the time-dependent polarization state of ultrashort laser pulses, enabling detailed characterization of polarization evolution over time.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for measuring the temporal evolution of polarization states in ultrashort pulses using an extended d-scan approach.

Findings

Successful measurement of polarization evolution in 6 fs pulses

Excellent agreement between measurements and simulations

Demonstration of polarization gating using waveplates

Abstract

The dispersion scan (d-scan) technique is extended to measurement of the timedependent polarization state of ultrashort laser pulses. In the simplest implementation for linearly polarized ultrashort pulses, the d-scan technique records the second harmonic generation (SHG) spectrum as a function of a known spectral phase manipulation. By applying this method to two orthogonally polarized projections of an arbitrary polarized electric field and by measuring the spectrum at an intermediate angle, we can reconstruct the evolution over time of the polarization state. We demonstrate the method by measuring a polarization gate generated from 6 fs pulses with a combination of waveplates. The measurements are compared to simulations, showing an excellent agreement.