Abstract
In the complete reconstruction of ultrashort optical pulses based on
temporal interferometry, the chromatic dispersion and the optical time delay
are two key factors, which determine the measurement accuracy. Due to the
higher order dispersion, the wavelength-to-time mapping becomes nonlinear,
leading to a nonuniformly spaced interference pattern and a decreased fringe
visibility in the time domain, even though the input pulse is transform
limited. On the other hand, an estimation of the time delay difference with
a minor deviation from the true value will result in an artificial linear
chirp in the reconstructed phase of the pulse under test. In this paper, a
rigorous mathematical analysis on the nonlinear frequency-to-time mapping is
performed, with which the phenomena of a nonuniformly spaced interference
pattern and a decreased fringe visibility are explained. A frequency-to-time
mapping function including higher order dispersion is developed. With a
general mapping function, using a transform-limited pulse as the reference
signal, we propose a method for real-time tracking of the system parameters,
including the chromatic dispersion corresponding to all the optical devices
incorporated in the system and the time delay introduced by the
interferometer. Finally, a complete reconstruction of a 237 fs optical pulse
is demonstrated experimentally with an average angular error of 0.18 rad
ranging from 190.65 to 193.85 THz.
© 2009 IEEE
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