Self-diffraction SPIDER

Few-cycle pulse characterization techniques inherently rely on the availability of efficient nonlinear optical processes that allow for broadband phase matching. Characterization of sub-10 fs pulses generally enforces the use of very thin optical crystals in techniques such as SHG FROG and SPIDER. With any of these techniques, an increase in detection bandwidth has to be traded for a reduction of conversion efficiency. Despite the significantly increased tolerance of SPIDER concerning available phase-matching bandwidth, the characterization of octave-spanning spectra therefore also creates virtually unaccomplishable demands on the choice of a nonlinear optical crystal for sum-frequency mixing. In the following, we will investigate the much more broadband self-diffraction (SD) process as an alternative for SPIDER pulse characterization. To the best of our knowledge, this constitutes the first experimental demonstration of a χ
⁽³⁾
-based SPIDER apparatus.