Noninterferometric methods for ultrashort pulse shape measurement: theory and experiment

Summary form only given. The characterization of the electric field of ultrashort optical pulses is a long standing problem, dating back to the development of mode-locked lasers some thirty years ago. Despite the intense effort that has gone into its study, only a very few schemes have been demonstrated to yield reliably complete amplitude and phase information, although there are more recent proposals and demonstrations of promise. Ultrashort optical pulses have durations shorter than the response time of any electronic instrument. Thus one can never directly measure the electric-field envelope.