Fringe resolved autocorrelator for characterization of ultrashort laser pulses using second harmonics of ZnO nanorods

Abstract

Use of second harmonics (SH) of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods for ultrashort pulse characterization is reported here. The used ZnO nanorods are grown by chemical bath deposition method. The pulse characterization is done by the autocorrelator technique. From this, the pulse duration is estimated to be 14 femtosecond (fs). The spectral bandwidth of the pulse under probe is ∼85nm with central wavelength at 820 nm. Theoretically, Fourier transformation limited pulse width corresponding to this spectral bandwidth is 12 fs. So experimentally measured pulse width closely matches with the theoretical prediction. The reported characterization system is cost effective and can be used for characterization of fs laser of broad wavelength range.