A method for unique phase retrieval of ultrafast optical fields

Seifert, Birger; Stolz, H.

doi:10.1088/0957-0233/20/1/015303

Cited by 24 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(46 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The VAMPIRE (very advanced method for phase and intensity retrieval of e-fields) [7], a spectrographic self-referencing cross-correlation technique, utilizes that by means of a conditioning filter. VAMPIRE is similar to the double-blind FROG method, but it has a conditioning filter and a new algorithm, which uses the spectra of the input pulses as constraints.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrashort laser pulse retrieval using single-shot VAMPIRE

Sperlich

Seifert

Stolz

2014

2014 IEEE Photonics Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Characterizing ultrashort laser pulses is a challenging task. By now several methods are established which can be divided into interferometric methods like SPIDER (spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction) [1] or MEFISTO (measurement of the electric field by interferometric spectral trace observation) [2] and spectrographic methods like FROG (frequencyresolved optical gating) [3] or TASC (temporal analysis of spectral components) [4].These methods lack of unique field retrievals of arbitrary electronic fields. This is a severe problem if the laser pulse is structured as for example in soliton molecules due to well separated frequency components [5].Non-self-referenced methods like XFROG or XSPIDER may be able to retrieve phase and intensity uniquely, but require a well-known reference pulse. This implies errors, which directly propagate into the results.It is rigorously proven that no ambiguities are present if the spectrogram of a blind-FROG measurement is non-centro-symmetric [6]. The VAMPIRE (very advanced method for phase and intensity retrieval of e-fields) [7], a spectrographic self-referencing cross-correlation technique, utilizes that by means of a conditioning filter. VAMPIRE is similar to the double-blind FROG method, but it has a conditioning filter and a new algorithm, which uses the spectra of the input pulses as constraints. The general idea is shown in Fig.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrashort laser pulse retrieval using single-shot VAMPIRE

Sperlich

Seifert

Stolz

2014

2014 IEEE Photonics Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Having non-centro-symmetric spectrograms in the blind-FROG scheme, relative-phase ambiguities can be avoided [7]. With that knowledge we developed a new cross correlation technique for full characterization of arbitrary complex-shaped ultrashort optical signals called very advanced method for phase and intensity retrieval of efields (VAMPIRE [8]). Figure I shows the schematic VAMPIRE-setup.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unique phase retrieval of ultrafast optical fields by double - blind correlation techniques

Seifert

Sperlich

Stolz

2009

CLEO/Europe - EQEC 2009 - European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the European Quantum Electronics Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several methods for the full characterization of ultrashort optical signals have been developed. There are interferometric methods like spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction (SPIDER [1]) or measurement of the electric field by interferometric spectral trace observation (MEFISTO [2]) and spectrographic techniques such as frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG [3]) or temporal analysis of spectral components (TASC [4]). All of these methods have one thing in common. They can not recover ultrashort pulses with well-separated frequency components due to relative-phase ambiguities [5]. However, such pulses appear rather frequently for example in soliton molecules [6].Non-self-referenced methods like XFROG or XSPIDER might overcome this problem, but require a well characterized reference pulse which is therefore not applicable in all cases . Furthermore the error of the reference pulse propagates directly into the final result and a unique field reconstruction is still not guaranteed. Having non-centro-symmetric spectrograms in the blind-FROG scheme, relative-phase ambiguities can be avoided [7]. With that knowledge we developed a new cross correlation technique for full characterization of arbitrary complex-shaped ultrashort optical signals called very advanced method for phase and intensity retrieval of efields (VAMPIRE [8]). Figure I shows the schematic VAMPIRE-setup. By the conditioning filter, which is one of the key elements of the setup, the VAMPIRE-spectrogram can be made non-centro-symmetric, thus allowing signal) Y t=pon1 delay ligna! 2 conditioaillgfilter Fig. 1 Schematic VAMPIRE-setup: signal I (pulse) and 2 (reference pulse) are joined in space and time in the nonlinear medium. The correlated signal as well as signal I and 2 will be analyzed in a spectrometer and the pulse retrieval starts with that information.to reconstruct unambiguously both signals . The conditioning filter can also be used to spectrally broaden signal 2. This removes any zeros in the correlation signal spectrum and allows avoiding relative-phase ambiguities. In a practical setup for characterizing laser pulses signal 2 can be derived by a beam splitter from the input laser.In our contribution we show in detail how VAMPIRE works, discuss possible realizations for the conditioning filter and present a new phase reconstruction algorithm that converges much faster than the known PCGP-algorithm and reconstructs even noisy pulses with well-separated frequency components without ambiguities or stagnations.

show abstract

“…Their binding mechanism crucially depends on phase dynamics; however, in previous art no direct phase information was accessible. Established techniques for amplitude-and-phase characterization like FROG [2] and its numerous variations [3] turn out to be inadequate for assessment of these complex pulse shapes: the algorithms do not converge in most cases.We therefore employ blind-FROG [3] combined with a novel algorithm called VAMPIRE (very advanced method of phase and intensity retrieval of E-fields) [4,5]. This procedure yields useful output every single time where conventional FROG demonstrably fails.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the shape as encountered here FROG algorithms often do not converge at all [3, ? ]and give meaningless output, or none at all.We therefore employed an advanced FROG method called blind-FROG [3,4,5] which is the spectrally resolved cross correlation of the pulse to be measured (referred to as probe pulse) with a suitable reference a845_1.pdf QWB2.pdf ©OSA 1-55752-834-9 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Temporal soliton molecules: Experimentally determined phase profiles

Hause

Hartwig

Böhm

et al. 2007

2007 Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Temporal soliton molecules in dispersion-managed fibers are characterized with an advanced FROG technique. This technique reveals phase and power profiles for complex pulse shapes where conventional techniques fail.We present an experimental characterization of amplitude and phase profiles of soliton molecules in optical fibers. Soliton molecules, recently discovered bound states of fiber-optic solitons in dispersion-managed fibers [1], hold potential for increasing the ultimate data-carrying capacity of fibers. Their binding mechanism crucially depends on phase dynamics; however, in previous art no direct phase information was accessible. Established techniques for amplitude-and-phase characterization like FROG [2] and its numerous variations [3] turn out to be inadequate for assessment of these complex pulse shapes: the algorithms do not converge in most cases.We therefore employ blind-FROG [3] combined with a novel algorithm called VAMPIRE (very advanced method of phase and intensity retrieval of E-fields) [4,5]. This procedure yields useful output every single time where conventional FROG demonstrably fails. We thus obtain, for the first time, useful phase and chirp information about soliton molecules experimentally. At the same time, our experiment constitutes the first realistic test of the VAMPIRE technique which is found to exhibit superior performance.Today's advanced fiber-optic transmission lines make increasing use of so called dispersion-managed fibers, i.e. fibers in which segments of positive and negative group velocity dispersion alternate periodically. Typically, data are coded in an RZ (return to zero) format in which a short light pulse sits in a time slot several times wider so that neighboring pulse interaction is avoided. We demonstrated recently both numerically and experimentally that at a certain much closer spacing two such signal pulses can form a stable bound state provided they are in antiphase. This compound has been called a soliton molecule [1].The power profile of this structure by necessity has a π phase jump and a central zero; one can therefore also think of the compound as being composed of two bright solitons with an intermediate dark soliton. Note that this property is also most demanding for a full field reconstruction. FROG typically fails when there are zeroes. It is presently unclear whether interferometric methods like SPIDER [6] can present a viable alternative: They seem to have difficulties with π phase jumps, and require either peak powers not available in this experiment, or extended averaging times over which interferometric phase stability is hard to maintain here.As we conducted systematic experiments to further characterize the range of existence and the stability properties of these soliton molecules, it became evident that the core reason for the binding mechanism resides in the phase dynamics inside the pulse. Also, an analytical model has been formulated [7] in which the pulse's chirp plays the central role. To get access to phase information, we therefore ...

show abstract

A method for unique phase retrieval of ultrafast optical fields

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Ultrashort laser pulse retrieval using single-shot VAMPIRE

Ultrashort laser pulse retrieval using single-shot VAMPIRE

Unique phase retrieval of ultrafast optical fields by double - blind correlation techniques

Temporal soliton molecules: Experimentally determined phase profiles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About