Single-shot measurement of wavelength-resolved state of polarization dynamics in ultrafast lasers using dispersed division-of-amplitude

Characterization of the state of polarization (SOP) of ultrafast laser emission is relevant in several application fields such as field manipulation, pulse shaping, testing of sample characteristics, and biomedical imaging. Nevertheless, since high-speed detection and wavelength-resolved measurements cannot be simultaneously achieved by commercial polarization analyzers, single-shot measurements of the wavelength-resolved SOP of ul- trafast laser pulses have rarely been reported. Here, we propose a method for single-shot, wavelength-resolved SOP measurements that exploits the method of division-of-amplitude under far-field transformation. A large accumulated chromatic dispersion is utilized to time-stretch the laser pulses via dispersive Fourier transform, so that spectral information is mapped into a temporal waveform. By calibrating our test matrix with different wavelengths, wavelength-resolved SOP measurements are achieved, based on the division-of-amplitude approach, combined with high-speed opto-electronic processing. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we reveal the com- plex wavelength-dependent SOP dynamics in the build-up of dissipative solitons. The experimental results show that the dissipative soliton exhibits far more complex wavelength-related polarization dynamics, which are not shown in single-shot spectrum measurement. Our method paves the way for single-shot measurement and in- telligent control of ultrafast lasers with wavelength-resolved SOP structures, which could promote further inves- tigations of polarization-related optical signal processing techniques, such as pulse shaping and hyperspectral polarization imaging. (c) 2022 Chinese Laser Press

Automated summary

This study presents a method for single-shot, wavelength-resolved measurement of the state of polarization (SOP) of ultrafast laser pulses. It utilizes chromatic dispersion to time-stretch the pulses and map spectral information into a temporal waveform. By calibrating with different wavelengths, wavelength-resolved SOP measurements are achieved, allowing for detailed analysis of complex wavelength-dependent polarization dynamics. This method opens up possibilities for intelligent control and further investigations in polarization-related optical signal processing.