Abstract

The characterization of the electric field of ultrashort optical pulses is a long standing problem, dating back to the development of mode-locked lasers some thirty years ago. Despite the intense effort that has gone into its study, only a very few schemes have been demonstrated to yield reliably complete amplitude and phase information, although there are more recent proposals and demonstrations of promise. Given the plethora of suggestions, and the difficulty in estimating the accuracy or range of applicability of each, it is worth asking whether there are some global criteria that must be met by any and all schemes that claim to measure both the amplitude and phase of an optical pulse.

© 1996 Optical Society of America