Temporal self-splitting of optical pulses

Concepts for the Temporal Characterization of Short Optical Pulses

Methods for the characterization of the time-dependent electric field of short optical pulses are reviewed. The representation of these pulses in terms of correlation functions and time-frequency distributions is discussed, and the strategies for their characterization are explained using these representations. Examples of the experimental implementations of the concepts of spectrography, inter...

Temporal self-imaging effect for periodically modulated trains of pulses.

In this paper, the mathematical description of the temporal self-imaging effect is studied, focusing on the situation in which the train of pulses to be dispersed has been previously periodically modulated in phase and amplitude. It is demonstrated that, for each input pulse and for some specific values of the chromatic dispersion, a subtrain of optical pulses is generated whose envelope is det...

Self-compression of optical laser pulses by filamentation

During the propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in a transparent medium, pulse shortening can occur without external guiding. Experimental evidence for this effect and a description of its physical origin are presented. Nearly single cycle pulses at 800 nm with an energy of 0.120 mJ can be obtained with excellent beam quality. Carrier envelope offset phase (CEP) stability is conserve...

Ultrafast Optical Pulses

Ultrafast pulses on the femtosecond time scale allow fundamental processes, such as atomic transitions, to be measured. To investigate the formation of optical pulses, an argon ion laser was used to pump a titanium-doped sapphire laser. The mode-locked output of this laser was measured with a spectrometer and an autocorrelator to find a frequency pulse width of σω = 86 ± 3 rad/ps and a temporal...

Measurement of Ultrashort Optical Pulses