Abstract. The SD-SPIDER method for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses requires the solution of a nonlinear integral equation of autoconvolution type with a device-based kernel function. Taking into account the analytical background of a variational regularization approach for solving the corresponding ill-posed operator equation formulated in complex-valued L 2 -spaces over finite real intervals, we suggest and evaluate numerical procedures using NURBS and the TIGRA method for calculating the regularized solutions in a stable manner. In this context, besides the complex deautoconvolution problem with noisy but full data, a phase retrieval problem is introduced which adapts to the experimental state of the art in laser optics. For the treatment of this problem facet, which is formulated as a tensor product operator equation, we derive wellposedness of variational regularization methods. Case studies with synthetic and real optical data show the capability of the implemented approach as well as its limitation due to measurement deficits. MSC2010 subject classification: 47A52, 47J06, 78A60, 65R32, 45Q05, 65J15