Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena, 2nd Edition

9

Diagnostic Techniques

The femtosecond time scale is beyond the reach of standard electronic display

instruments. New methods have to be designed to freeze and time resolve events

as short as a few optical cycles. Any measurement technique introduces some

perturbation on the parameter to be measured. This problem is particularly acute

in attempting to time resolve fs signals. As we have seen in the chapter on fs

optics, reflection and transmission through most optical elements will modify the

signal to be measured. In addition, most diagnostic schemes involve nonlinear

elements, which may also have an influence on the amplitude and phase of the

pulse