Few-cycle pulse retrieval using amplitude swing technique

Abstract

Ultrashort pulses have garnered significant attention across various scientific disciplines and applications. In this paper, we demonstrate that the recently introduced amplitude swing technique is a robust method for characterizing pulses in the few-cycle temporal domain by analyzing compressed and chirped pulses from a Ti:Sapphire laser oscillator. The duration of the measured pulse for the case of best compression was 5.98 fs (Fourier limit 5.50 fs) corresponding to 2.2 cycles, while the chirped pulses were up to 15 times temporally stretched. The results obtained have been validated using the d-scan technique, showing excellent agreement in all situations. Therefore, the capability of the amplitude swing technique to measure ultra-broadband pulses in the few-cycle regime is demonstrated, as well as very far from optimum compression, while only being limited by the transparency and birefringence of its elements.