Few-cycle optical pulse characterization via cross-polarized wave generation dispersion scan technique

We demonstrate a dispersion scan (d-scan) pulse characterization scheme employing cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation as a nonlinear optical process. XPW generation is a degenerate four-wave mixing process with no phase-matching limitations. Therefore, its implementation in the d-scan method is a good choice for the characterization of few-cycle pulses in remote spectral regions. We fully characterize 5-10 fs pulses delivered through a hollow-core fiber in the near-IR region and compare the results with the second-harmonic generation (SHG) frequency-resolved optical gating and SHG d-scan characterization methods. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America