Analysis and mitigation of systematic errors in spectral shearing interferometry of pulses approaching the single-cycle limit [Invited]

We derive an analytical approximation for the measured pulse width error in spectral shearing methods, such as spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER), caused by an anomalous delay between the two sheared pulse components. This analysis suggests that, as pulses approach the single-cycle limit, the resulting requirements on the calibration and stability of this delay become significant, requiring precision orders of magnitude higher than the scale of a wavelength. This is demonstrated by numerical simulations of SPIDER pulse reconstruction using actual data from a sub-two-cycle laser. We briefly propose methods to minimize the effects of this sensitivity in SPIDER and review variants of spectral shearing that attempt to avoid this difficulty.

[1]  Günter Steinmeyer,et al.  Techniques for the characterization of sub-10-fs optical pulses: a comparison , 2000 .

[2]  Franz X Kärtner,et al.  Two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry for few-cycle pulse characterization. , 2006, Optics letters.

[3]  I. Walmsley,et al.  Spectral shearing interferometry with spatially chirped replicas for measuring ultrashort pulses. , 2007, Optics Express.

[4]  A. Yariv.  Optical electronics in modern communications , 1997 .

[5]  Homodyne detection in spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction. , 2001, Optics letters.

[6]  Günter Steinmeyer,et al.  Sub-10 fs pulse characterization using spatially encoded arrangement for spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction. , 2006, Optics letters.

[7]  I. Walmsley,et al.  Real-time SPIDER: ultrashort pulse characterization at 20 Hz. , 1999, Optics express.

[8]  D. Kane,et al.  Characterization of arbitrary femtosecond pulses using frequency-resolved optical gating , 1993 .

[9]  Eberhard Riedle,et al.  Zero-additional-phase SPIDER: full characterization of visible and sub-20-fs ultraviolet pulses. , 2004, Optics letters.

[10]  J W Nicholson,et al.  Full-field characterization of femtosecond pulses by spectrum and cross-correlation measurements. , 1999, Optics letters.

[11]  M. Motzkus,et al.  Shaper-assisted collinear SPIDER: fast and simple broadband pulse compression in nonlinear microscopy , 2007 .

[12]  Ian A Walmsley,et al.  Interferometric technique for measuring broadband ultrashort pulses at the sampling limit. , 2005, Optics letters.

[13]  Kazuhiko Oka,et al.  Optical pulse compression to 3.4 fs in the monocycle region by feedback phase compensation. , 2003, Optics letters.

[14]  Matthew E. Anderson,et al.  Measuring ultrashort optical pulses in the presence of noise: an empirical study of the performance of spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction. , 2004, Applied optics.

[15]  F. Kärtner,et al.  Modeling of Octave-Spanning Sub-Two-Cycle Titanium:Sapphire Lasers: Simulation and Experiment , 2009 .

[16]  I. A. Walmsley,et al.  Self-referencing spectral interferometry for measuring ultrashort optical pulses , 1999 .

[17]  F. Kärtner,et al.  Two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry for few-cycle pulse characterization and optimization , 2006 .

[18]  C Dorrer.  Implementation of spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction with a simultaneously recorded reference interferogram. , 1999, Optics letters.

[19]  F X Kärtner,et al.  Nonintrusive phase stabilization of sub-two-cycle pulses from a prismless octave-spanning Ti:sapphire laser. , 2008, Optics letters.

[20]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  Toward single-cycle laser systems , 2003 .

[21]  Edwin H Armstrong.  A method of reducing disturbances in radio signaling by a system of frequency modulation , 1984 .

[22]  F. Kartner,et al.  Two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry (2DSI) for ultrashort pulse characterization , 2006, 2006 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and 2006 Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference.

[23]  Keisaku Yamane,et al.  Generation of 2.6 fs optical pulses using induced-phase modulation in a gas-filled hollow fiber , 2007 .

[24]  A. Weiner,et al.  Ambiguity of ultrashort pulse shapes retrieved from the intensity autocorrelation and the power spectrum , 2001 .

[25]  Christophe Dorrer,et al.  Influence of the calibration of the detector on spectral interferometry , 1999 .

[26]  Ian A. Walmsley,et al.  Characterization of the electric field of ultrashort optical pulses , 1996 .

[27]  Characterization of Ultrashort Optical Pulses in the Few-Cycle Regime Using Spectral Phase Interferometry for Direct Electric-Field Reconstruction , 2004 .