All-optical sampling of ultrashort laser pulses based on perturbed transient grating

We propose and demonstrate an all-optical pulse sampling technique based on the transient grating (TG) procedure with perturbation, which provides a simple and robust manner to characterize an ultrashort laser pulse without employing a retrieval algorithm. In our approach, a twoorders weaker perturbation pulse perturbs the diffracted pulse from the TG, which is generated by another strong fundamental pulse. The modulation of the diffracted pulse energy directly represents the temporal profile of the perturbation pulse. We have successfully characterized few-cycle and multi-cycle pulses, which is consistent with the results verified by the widely employed frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) method. Our method provides a potential way to characterize ultrashort laserwaveform fromthe deepUV to far-infrared region. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group.

Automated summary

We propose and demonstrate an all-optical pulse sampling technique based on transient grating, which provides a simple and robust way to characterize ultrashort laser pulses without retrieval algorithms. The modulation of diffracted pulses directly represents the temporal profile of the perturbation pulse.