Single-frame measurement of the complete spatiotemporal intensity and phase of ultrashort laser pulses using wavelength-multiplexed digital holography

We show that a simple (few-element) arrangement for wavelength-multiplexed digital holography allows the measurement of the electric field E(x,y,t) of a femtosecond laser pulse on a single shot. A slightly rotated two-dimensional diffractive optical element and a variable-wavelength filter together generate multiple spectrally resolved digital holograms that are simultaneously captured in a single frame by a digital camera. An additional simultaneous measurement of the spectral phase for a spatially filtered replica of the pulse with frequency-resolved optical gating completes this three-dimensional measurement. An experimental implementation of the technique is presented and its current limitations are discussed. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.