MEASUREMENT OF ULTRASHORT-PULSE DURATIONS BY INTERFEROMETRIC AUTOCORRELATION - INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS

The interferometric autocorrelation technique for the measurement of u ltrashort pulse durations is studied in detail. Effects of group veloc ity mismatch, group velocity dispersion, fundamental depletion, and pu lse shape are carefully examined. A simple semianalytical calculation is developed that takes group velocity mismatch into account that can be used to predict the validity of this technique with real experiment al parameters. A more complete calculation is also presented to analyz e the effects of fundamental depletion or phase mismatch. Finally, the influence of the pulse shape is considered and a simple experimental procedure is proposed to determine whether a pulse is transform limite d. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America