Abstract

In a periodic pulse train the carrier-envelope-offset frequency ν_CEO, that is the rate at which the phase of the carrier slips with respect to the pulse envelope, is of increasing interest for carrier phase dependent physics with few-cycle-pulses, e.g. higher harmonic generation. But also in the case of longer pulses, where single pulses contain many cycles of the optical field, characterization of ν_CEO offers new insights, for example into the dynamics within the laser. For measurements of ν_CEO various schemes have been proposed, e.g. in [1]. We present a novel scheme for determination of ν_CEO of a mode locked Er:fiber-laser emitting pulses of 80 fsec duration in the region spanning roughly 100 nm centered around 1560 nm [2]. For the purpose of this measurement the Er: fiber-laser is pulse-synchronized to a Kerr-lens-mode locked Ti: Sa-laser emitting 10 fsec pulses centered around 780 nm [3].

© 2002 Optical Society of America