Diffraction of ultrashort laser pulses and applications for measuring pulse front distortion and pulse width

Summary form only given. We propose a new method based on diffraction of ultrashort laser pulses by double slits. Experimental results show the feasibility of this technique. Since electronic devices and even the fastest streak cameras are too slow to measure the temporal evolution of ultrashort laser pulses, there has been an extensive search for novel techniques. We have experimentally demonstrated the feasibility of diffraction by single and double slits to obtain information on ultrashort laser pulses. In detail, the linear diffraction pattern of a single and a double slit provides information on the pulse front distortion and the second order diffraction pattern of a double slit may be used to obtain the temporal width of ultrashort laser pulses. A major advantage of this technique is that its performance increases with decreasing pulse width.