Measurement of Fourier-synthesized optical waveforms.

Following the experiments of Shverdin and colleagues [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 033904 (2005)], we describe a technique for determining the temporal envelope of an optical beam whose spectrum consists of n discrete, equally spaced frequency components. Four-wave mixing is employed to generate n-1 higher-frequency sidebands. The relative intensities of these sidebands, together with the intensities of the incident side-bands, determine the unknown relative phases of the incident beam.