Comparison of ultrashort-pulse frequency-resolved-optical-gating traces for three common beam geometries

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Journal of the Optical Society of America, Part B: Optical Physics; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.11.001595· OSTI ID:6867073

DeLong, K W; Trebino, R ^[1]; Kane, D J ^[2]

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1. Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)
2. Southwest Sciences, Inc., 1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 (United States)

We recently introduced frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG), a technique for measuring the intensity and phase of an individual, arbitrary, ultrashort laser pulse. FROG can use almost any instantaneous optical nonlinearity, with the most common geometries being polarization gate, self-diffraction, and second-harmonic generation. The experimentally generated FROG trace is intuitive, visually appealing, and can yield quantitative information about the pulse parameters (such as temporal and spectral width and chirp). However, the qualitative and the quantitative features of the FROG trace depend strongly on the geometry used. We compare the FROG traces for several common ultrashort pulses for these three common geometries and, where possible, develop scaling rules that allow one to obtain quantitative information about the pulse directly from the experimental FROG trace. We illuminate the important features of the various FROG traces for transform-limited, linearly chirped, self-phase modulated, and nonlinearly chirped pulses, pulses with simultaneous linear chirp and self-phase modulation, and pulses with simultaneous linear chirp and cubic phase distortion, as well as double pulses, pulses with phase jumps, and pulses with complex intensity and phase substructure.

• OSTI ID: 6867073
• Journal Information: Journal of the Optical Society of America, Part B: Optical Physics; (United States), Vol. 11:9; ISSN 0740-3224
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
LASER RADIATION
AMPLITUDES
PHASE SHIFT
HARMONIC GENERATION
KERR EFFECT
MEASURING METHODS
PULSE TECHNIQUES
SCALING LAWS
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FREQUENCY MIXING
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
661300* - Other Aspects of Physical Science- (1992-)