MEASUREMENT OF PICOSECOND PULSE SUBSTRUCTURE USING COMPRESSION TECHNIQUES

Abstract

A grating pair, which is capable of detecting the quadratic phase term (linear frequency sweep) and compressing the ultrashort pulses from a mode-locked Nd-glass laser has been used in conjunction with second harmonic generation techniques to reveal a periodic wobble of the consecutive pulse envelopes. An asymmetry in the picosecond pulse envelope has been detected by scanning the pulses with their compressed counterparts in a fluorescing dye cell excited by two-photon absorption.