Intense colored pulse trains: generation, characterization, and applications

By extended spectral phase-only modulation we generalize the technique of simple parametric pulse forming and generate colored multipulses. Shifting parts of the laser spectrum with specific linear spectral phases, the relative delays and intensity ratios could be adjusted nearly at will without substantial changes in the subpulse envelopes. We demonstrate the advantages of the method by generating and fully characterizing colored triple- and quadruple-pulses. The corresponding numerical calculations show an excellent agreement with the experiments. As an application we study a well-documented optical system, that is the third-harmonic generation, and explore the opportunity to support closed-loop control experiments.