Single-shot measurement of the complete spatiotemporal field of an ultrashort laser pulse

Abstract

We present a technique for measuring the full spatiotemporal electric field of a femtosecond pulse on a single shot. Using a simple apparatus, we generate multiple replicas of the pulse to be measured and record numerous spatially separated digital holograms at different frequencies using a spectrally-resolved reference pulse on a single-exposure digital hologram. We then numerically reconstruct the complete electric field, E( x,y,r ), using a direct algorithm. The technique is demonstrated using pulses from a modelocked Ti:Sapphire oscillator.