Motion pictures of propagating ultrashort laser pulses

We achieved the motion pictures of the ultrashort laser pulses propagating in air and some optical devices using the light-in-flight recording by holography. The pictures are recorded with a ~ 10-ps and a 130-fs pulsed laser, and a photographic plate. To reconstruct the motion pictures, the hologram is illuminated with a continuous wave (cw) laser, and the hologram is moved in parallel to the plane on which the recording material was set. The motion pictures can be also seen in the following two other cases. (1) We move in parallel to the hologram while the hologram is illuminated with a cw laser. (2) We stop to see the hologram scanning the hologram with the cw laser beam. The motion pictures are continuous in terms of both time and space. The reconstruction speed of the motion pictures is determined by the speed of the moving or the scanning. We demonstrate motion pictures of the ultrashort laser pulses going through several optical elements. Fundamental optical phenomena such as reflection, refraction, and diffraction are occurring are observed for the ultrashort laser pulse. We discuss the resolution of the motion pictures.