Abstract

The first high resolution (120 fsec) measurements of the formation of an intensity (envelope) shock and the subsequent oscillations due to wave breaking¹ are described. The reshaped output pulse is measured from a 250 cm single-mode optical fiber versus the power of a 1 psec input pulse. Over a wide range of input powers, the output pulse has a remarkably sharp self-steepened trailing shock with less than 200 fsec fall times. At a critical peak power of 250 W, well defined 300 fsec oscillations, due to interference of the frequencies which bridge the shock, begin to appear trailing the shock (optical wave-breaking). The development of the oscillations was accompanied by the appearance of spectral sattelites due to the nonlinear mixing of the overlapping frequency components. This measurement was accomplished by cross correlation with a 120 fs probe pulse, using an electronic selection technique to maintain the neccessary resolution over the sampled ensemble.

© 1988 Optical Society of America