Spectral phase measurement of a stretcher-compressor system by Fourier-transform spectral interferometry

Summary form only given. Imperfect phase control in stretcher/compressor systems is often responsible for incomplete recompression in chirped pulse amplification laser systems. Indeed, a good control of the spectral phase is important not only to achieve short pulse durations but also to minimize the importance of the pulse pedestal. Although nonlinear phase-retrieval can be used to fully measure a short pulse transmitted by a stretcher/compressor system, it is easier to simply characterize the system itself by its linear response function. Fourier-transform spectral interferometry (FTSI) is a well suited technique to achieve this purpose, directly providing the response function as a continuous function of frequency. Using a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser oscillator we have thus measured the phase introduced by a zero-dispersion line.