Single-shot spectral interferometry of femtosecond laser-produced plasmas

We use both a Fourier-transform-based analysis and time-retrieval calculations to get time-resolved measurements of the reflectivity and the phase shift of a chirped probe pulse interacting with a fs-laser-produced plasma by spectral interferometry in a single shot. We have devised a novel dual-quadrature Mach-Zehnder configuration in which wavefront division is used to obtain spatial fringes from the perturbed and unperturbed probe simultaneously. We demonstrate the capability of this technique with fully analyzed experimental data on the interaction of a femtosecond laser with C 3 H 6 and C samples, showing 35-fs time resolution.