The main contributions of this thesis to the field of ultrashort pulse measurement are a new set of experimental tools to measure the spatio-temporal fields of femtosecond pulses, and a new simplified formalism to describe such fields in the presence of distortions.
More specifically, we developed an experimental technique based on scanning-wavelength digital holography and frequency-resolved optical gating that allows the complete measurement of the electric field E(x,y,t) of trains of identical femtosecond pulses. A related method, wavelength-multiplexed digital holography, is also introduced. It achieves a single-shot measurement of the three-dimensional field E(x,y,t) but at a reduced resolution using a simple experimental apparatus. Both methods can be used to measure various spatio-temporal distortions that often plague femtosecond laser systems, in particular amplified ones.
Finally, to unambiguously and intuitively quantify such distortions, we introduce normalized correlation coefficients so that a common language can be used to describe the severity of these effects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/16317 |
| Date | 28 June 2007 |
| Creators | Gabolde, Pablo |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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