Investigation of ultrashort pulse dispersion through a non-linear microscope

We have investigated the characteristics of ultrashort pulses as they propagate through a microscope. We have observed the dispersive symmetry of the objective lens by characterising the pulses at the sample plane and showing how the amplitude and the phase increase as the pulses are scanned away from the centre of the lens. Importantly, since starch has a very large phase matching bandwidth, the technique outlined here can be applied to even shorter pulses (>15 fs) where the dispersive effects will be far more dramatic.