Abstract

Angular dispersion in a laser beam is responsible for most of the spatiotemporal distortions of laser pulses such as pulse front tilt or lengthening of the pulse duration [1]. This effect, which can be described as the spectral variation of propagation direction (plane waves) or of phase-front direction (Gaussian waves) the different spectral components may become rather pronounced for broadband pulses, especially in high dispersion chirped pulse amplification (CPA) systems. Hence, on the one hand, considerable efforts have been paid during the last decade to measure it and to correct for [2 5]. On the other hand, control and knowledge of angular dispersion have been demonstrated as essential in generation of single attosecond pulses and energetic terahertz waves [6]. In this study, three measurement methods based on linear optical elements are compared to each other upon the alignment of a grating pair compressor. Results about accuracy, resolution, measurement limitations, and the ease-of-use of these different methods are presented.

© 2015 IEEE