MULTIDIMENSIONAL SHAPING OF ULTRAFAST OPTICAL WAVE-FORMS

Simultaneous temporal and spatial shaping of ultrashort optical pulses is demonstrated. A two-dimensional mask pattern is used to filter spa tially separated frequency components along one coordinate and to impa rt a shaped spatial (or wave-vector) profile along the perpendicular c oordinate, yielding a spatially and temporally coherent output wavefor m. As an example, a single input pulse is transformed into 11 spatiall y separated output beams, each with an independently specified tempora l profile. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America