Abstract
Ultrafast vectorially polarized pulses have found many applications in information and energy transfer owing mainly to the presence of strong longitudinal components and their space-polarization non-separability. Due to their broad spectra, such pulses often exhibit space–time couplings, which significantly affect the pulse propagation dynamics. Although such couplings usually result in reduced energy density at the focal spot, they have been utilized to demonstrate pulse shaping as in the case of a rotating or sliding wavefront as the pulse travels through its focal point. Here, we present a new method for the spatiotemporal characterization of ultrashort cylindrical vector pulses based on a combination of spatially resolved Fourier transform spectroscopy and Mach–Zehnder interferometry. The method provides access to spatially resolved spectral amplitudes and phases of all polarization components of the pulse. We demonstrate the capabilities of the method by completely characterizing a 10 fs radially polarized pulse from a Ti:sapphire laser centered at 800 nm.
Highlights
Space–time couplings (STCs) in propagating waves are defined as the dependence of the temporal properties of the electric field on the transverse spatial coordinates.1 Mathematically, they are revealed as the non-separability of the spatial and temporal terms of the electric field of a pulse into a product, E(r, t) ≠ f (r)g(t)
We present a method for the complete spatiotemporal characterization of cylindrical vector pulses (CVPs) based on Fourier transform spectroscopy25,26 and, in particular, on TERMITES.14
We present a detailed description of the experimental implementation of TERMITES-MAZE, while the corresponding algorithm for the analysis of the experimental data is freely available under the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) three-clause license as a Python module
Summary
Space–time couplings (STCs) in propagating waves are defined as the dependence of the temporal properties of the electric field on the transverse spatial coordinates. Mathematically, they are revealed as the non-separability of the spatial and temporal terms of the electric field of a pulse into a product, E(r, t) ≠ f (r)g(t). Space–time couplings (STCs) in propagating waves are defined as the dependence of the temporal properties of the electric field on the transverse spatial coordinates.. A range of techniques have been demonstrated for the complete spatiotemporal characterization (retrieval of electric field amplitude and phase) of linearly polarized pulses.6 Such approaches are typically based on scanning the transverse profile of the unknown pulse with a known reference pulse or utilize concepts from wavefront characterization techniques.. The PFT distorts the temporal shape of the pulse Such space–time couplings occur in the case of ultrafast CVPs23 and can lead to dramatic effects on the pulse shape and propagation. The presence of STCs becomes increasingly important in such broadband pulses as it can dramatically alter their propagation properties and their interaction with matter. The TERMITES-MAZE method introduced here has the capability to characterize all these types of space–time-polarization non-separable light that are increasingly studied and has the potential to accelerate the research and emerging applications based on few cycle vector structured light
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