Spatio-temporal characterization techniques of high-power femtosecond laser chains

In this letter, we propose two techniques capable of spatio-temporally characterizing high-power femtosecond laser chains We demonstrate a new implementation of SEA TADPOLE. To avoid the problems induced by the the significant spatial jittering of the focal spot on high-power laser chains, our setup is adapted to collimated beams. In addition, a fibered light source is also used to correct the phase fluctuations. This experimental setup allows identifying any spatio-temporal distortions such as the pulse front tilt for instance. In this paper, to the best of our knowledge, we present the very first spatio-temporal characterization done on a TW laser. However, a SEA TADPOLE measurement is not immediate since it requires scanning the beam over the two transverse dimensions which prevent us from studying the shot-to-shot laser fluctuations. This is why, we developed MUFFIN, a single-shot technique capable of spatio-temporally characterizing a laser pulse along its two transverse dimensions. First experimental results obtained with this technique are presented here.