Amplitude and Phase Characterization of 5.0 fs Optical Pulses Using Spectral Phase Interferometry for Direct Electric-Field Reconstruction

The amplitude and phase of 5.0 fs optical pulses with an ultrabroad bandwidth from 480 to 835 nm were rapidly characterized by the spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER) technique. To our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse ever measured by the SPIDER technique. To solve the problems of dispersion, bandwidth, sensitivity and wavelength resolution, which are essential for few-optical-cycle pulse characterization, we developed a SPIDER apparatus equipped with ultrabroad-band (450–850 nm) beam splitters, a thin (25 µm) β-BaB 2 O 4 crystal, a 0.5 m spectrometer capable of the automatic and fast control of two gratings (1200 and 150 lines/mm) and a highly sensitive intensified charge-coupled device.