In-situ third-order interferometric autocorrelation of a femtosecond deep-ultraviolet pulse

The interferometric measurement of an ultrashort optical pulse is demonstrated using three-photon ionization of Xe in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MS). This approach allowed measurement of the third-order fringe-resolved autocorrelation trace of an ultrashort optical pulse in the deep-ultraviolet (DUV) region. The pulse can be measured in-situ using the same MS that is employed in ultrafast spectroscopy. Sensitivity (>3×10 W) was sufficient to measure a DUV pulse used in such applications. This setup has the potential to measure the temporal duration of a broadband Send offprint requests to: [email protected] 2 Y. Miyoshi, S. Zaitsu, T. Imasaka (204 306 nm) ultrashort optical pulse with no additional distortion in the temporal characteristics.