Amplitude and phase measurement of mid-infrared femtosecond pulses by using cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating

We describe a cross-correlation-based frequency-resolved optical gating (XFROG) technique for simultaneously measuring the amplitude and phase of two ultrashort pulses that have different wavelengths but are derived from a common mode-locked oscillator. A measurement is presented in which 4.0-mum mid-IR pulses from a synchronously pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) are characterized by mixing with the 770-nm OPO pump pulses. Details of the pulse-retrieval algorithm are included, together with examples of pulse data retrieved from the experimentally measured XFROG trace.