Multidimensional control of femtosecond pulses by use of a programmable liquid-crystal matrix

We report the automated generation of high-fidelity spatiotemporally shaped femtosecond pulses by use of an optically addressed, two-dimensional liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. A single input pulse was divided into many independent regions, and each region was shaped temporally. By changing the imaging geometry we accomplished either real-space or wave-vector shaping.