Programmable common-path vector field synthesizer for femtosecond pulses

We demonstrate a novel design for a femtosecond vector field synthesizer. Pulse shaping of all four degrees of freedom of the electric field (amplitude, phase, ellipticity, and orientation angle) is achieved with a single 1D double-layer spatial light modulator in a zero-dispersion compressor by modulating the amplitude and phase of the two transverse polarization components in separate halves of the modulator. Being a common-path arrangement, it is interferometrically stable and therefore usable for long-term measurements. The method can be broadly applied in coherent control and nonlinear spectroscopy. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.