Abstract

There are presently a variety of techniques available for the characterization of femtosecond laser pulses. These characterizations are accomplished by analyzing either interferograms, spectrograms, or the nonlinear spectrum modulation. These techniques all require either scanning optical delays or complicated algorithms to compute the phase, which limit their speed.¹_’^2,3,4 We demonstrate a spectrally and temporally resolved upconversion technique (STRUT) in a single shot configuration which produces a group-delay spectrogram. This spectrogram requires only a simple, and thus rapid, algorithm to retrieve the phase, allowing essentially real-time characterization of femtosecond laser pulses.

© 1995 Optical Society of America