Abstract
Since its introduction in 2010, self-referenced spectral interferometry (SRSI) has turned out to be an analytical, sensitive, accurate, and fast method for characterizing the temporal profile of femtosecond pulses. We review the underlying principle and the recent progress in the field of SRSI. We present our experimental work on this method, including the development of self-diffraction (SD) effect-based SRSI (SD-SRSI) and transient-grating (TG) effect-based SRSI (TG-SRSI). Three experiments based on TG-SRSI were performed: (1) We built a simple TG-SRSI device and used it to characterize a sub-10 fs pulse with a center wavelength of 1.8 μm. (2) On the basis of the TG effect, we successfully combined SRSI and frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) into a single device. The device has a broad range of application, because it has the advantages of both SRSI and FROG methods. (3) Weak sub-nanojoule pulses from an oscillator were successfully characterized using the TG-SRSI device, the optical setup of which is smaller than the palm of a hand, making it convenient for use in many applications, including sensor monitoring the pulse profile of laser systems. In addition, the SRSI method was extended for single-shot characterization of the temporal contrast of ultraintense and ultrashort laser pulses.
Highlights
Femtosecond laser pulse generation has progressed rapidly since the advent of the Ti/sapphire femtosecond laser
Methods to characterize the temporal profile of femtosecond pulses improved with the development of femtosecond laser technology [28]
SD-self-referenced spectral interferometry (SRSI) XPW is used in the SRSI method with success, the polarizer limits the spectral range
Summary
Femtosecond laser pulse generation has progressed rapidly since the advent of the Ti/sapphire femtosecond laser. The most widely used techniques for characterizing the temporal profile of femtosecond pulses are frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) [29] and spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction (SPIDER) [30]. SPIDER, introduced in 1998, entails a relatively complicated optical setup, because it needs a dispersive chirped pulse and uses sum-frequency generation to achieve spectral shear. Since their introduction, a significant effort was focused on improving the reliability, accuracy, simplicity, and temporal resolution of both methods [28,31].
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