Time-space conversion of femtosecond light pulse by spatio-temporal joint transform correlator

A new method to obtain the auto-correlation of an ultrafast light pulse spa tially and parallel is proposed. The method is based on a conventional opti cal computing technique, joint transform correlator, and a spectral filteri ng method to control ultrafast light pulses temporally. A simple experiment al determination of the pulse-separation of twin pulses, is demonstrated. I n the experiment, the optically addressable spatial light modulator is used as a spectrum-power spectrum conversion device, and the temporal accuracy of the system is 12.4 fs. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.