Simple devices for measuring complex ultrashort pulses

We describe experimentally simple, accurate, and reliable methods for measuring from very simple to potentially very complex ultrashort laser pulses. With only a few easily aligned components, these methods allow the measurement of a wide range of pulses, including those with time-bandwidth products greater than 1000 and those with energies of only a few hundred photons. In addition, two new, very simple methods allow the measurement of the complete spatio-temporal intensity and phase of even complex pulses on a single shot or at a tight focus. [GRAPHICS] Side views of an ultrashort laser pulse focusing in the presence of spherical aberration and group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and measured by Pamela Bowlan using SEA TADPOLE. In the nine snapshots, the color indicates the actual pulse color vs. space and time before and after the focus. The white dots represent the pulse-front (the highest intensity for a given transverse coordinate). The fringes in the beam before the focus are due to spherical aberration, and the rainbow-like appearance is due to the GVD. (c) 2009 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Weinheim