Abstract

An all-reflective, simple noncollinear second harmonic (SH) autocorrelator is described for monitoring the shot-to-shot behavior of ultrashort high-power laser pulses. Two mirrors are used for the dispersion-free splitting of a pulse into two halves. One of the mirrors is able to adjust the delay time and angle between two halves of the laser pulse in a nonlinear crystal. We present the possibility of real-time measurement of the pulse duration, peak intensity (or energy), and the pointing jitters of a laser pulse, by analyzing the spatial profile of the SH autocorrelation signal measured by a CCD camera. The measurement of the shot-to-shot variation of those parameters will be important for the detailed characterization of laser accelerated electrons or protons.

© 2014 Optical Society of Korea