Abstract

High time-bandwidth product (TBP) pulses arise frequently in ultrafast optics, such as in coherent control, supercontinuum generation, filamentation, telecommunications, and micromachining. Pulse measurement techniques with sufficient sampling points compared to the Whittaker-Shannon requirement therefore find application in all of these contexts. Theoretically, most techniques, including time-frequency and spectral shearing methods, are capable of handling complex pulses. In practice however, the additional resolution requirements introduce a compromise between signal-to-noise and acquisition time, raising the question of how to optimally use one's detector resources to obtain the most precise measurement.

© 2009 IEEE