Ultrafast pulse shaping: amplification and characterization

We demonstrate high-resolution amplified pulse shaping using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) at a center-wavelength of 795nm. The output pulses have energy of 200mJ/pulse and a transform-limited pulsewidth of 150fs. A spectral modulation of over 40 features is achieved in a single pulse. We characterize the pulses using the STRUT (Spectrally and Temporally Resolved Upconversion Technique). Using predistortion techniques, we demonstrate that the pulses can be shaped in amplitude and phase. We create a complex pulse shape with hyperbolic secant amplitude and hyperbolic tangent frequency sweep, which is useful for applications in adiabatic rapid passage experiments.