Ultrafast time-to-space conversion of phase by the method of spectral nonlinear optics

We propose a method for direct conversion of an ultrashort pulse into a monochromatic beam whose wave front either repeats or is related to the phase structure of the pulse or its spectrum. This can be done by sum-frequency generation of the spectrally resolved pulses. Experimentally, we projected two spectra of the same chirped pulse onto the nonlinear crystal so that the dispersions were opposite. After sum-frequency generation, a converging or diverging monochromatic beam was formed that was the analog of the pulse spectrum. We could determine the chirp value by the measurement of the wave-front radius. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America