ULTRAFAST PULSE SHAPING - AMPLIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION

We demonstrate high-resolution amplified pulse shaping using an acoust o-optic modulator (AOM) at a center-wavelength of 795nm. The output pu lses have energy of 200 mu J/pulse and a transform-limited pulsewidth of 150fs. A spectral modulation of over 40 features is achieved in a s ingle pulse. We characterize the pulses using the STRUT (Spectrally an d Temporally Resolved Upconversion Technique). Using predistortion tec hniques, we demonstrate that the pulses can be shaped in amplitude and phase. We create a complex pulse shape with hyperbolic secant amplitu de and hyperbolic tangent frequency sweep, which is useful for applica tions in adiabatic rapid passage experiments. (C)1998 Optical Society of America