Direct spatiotemporal measurements of accelerating ultrashort Bessel-type light bullets

We measure the spatiotemporal field of ultrashort pulses with complex spatiotemporal profiles using the linear-optical, interferometric pulse-measurement technique SEA TADPOLE. Accelerating and decelerating ultrashort, localized, nonspreading Bessel-X wavepackets were generated from a approximately 27 fs duration Ti:Sapphire oscillator pulse using a combination of an axicon and a convex or concave lens. The wavefields are measured with approximately 5 microm spatial and approximately 15 fs temporal resolutions. Our experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical calculations and numerical simulations.