Superimposing two oppositely directed picosecond laser pulses and measuring their duration using multiphoton absorption

Abstract

A new experimental technique is described for superimposing two oppositely directed laser pulses of picosecond duration (thus forming an optical centre-of-mass system) by measuring the number of ions produced via multiphoton ionization in the common focal region of two lenses. The possibility of using the technique for measuring the duration of sub-picosecond pulses and for accurately determining the parameters of the optical centre-of-mass system is discussed. Show more