Monolithic single-shot dispersion-scan : A new tool for real-time measurement and optimization of femtosecond pulses

Summary, in English

The precise characterization of femtosecond laser pulses is as challenging as their generation and a topic of intense research. Dispersion-scan (d-scan) [1] is a recently established technique where the spectrum of a nonlinear signal, e.g., second-harmonic generation (SHG), is measured as a function of dispersion applied to the pulse. The spectral phase of the pulse can then be retrieved from the resulting 2D trace using an iterative algorithm. An important implementation of d-scan, based on a chirped mirror and wedge compressor, involves progressively moving one of the wedges around the maximum compression point and acquiring the resulting SHG spectrum for each insertion with a standard spectrometer. This robust and fully inline approach, which does not require any beamsplitting or temporal delays, has enabled the simultaneous compression and measurement of pulses down to single-cycle durations [2-4], but its scanning nature precludes single-shot operation. A single-shot d-scan variant that explores the spatially dependent dispersion of a glass prism was successfully demonstrated with 3.2 fs pulses [5], but the relatively small amount of dispersion that can be introduced by a single prism limits its use to few-cycle pulses.