Two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry designed for mode-locked Cr:ZnS lasers

The outstanding laser properties of mode-locked Cr:ZnS and Cr:ZnSe lasers in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) are the reason for their recent emergence in the field of ultrafast optical science [1] . Their emitted ultrashort mid-IR pulses find potential applications in many industrial and scientific fields such as vibrational spectroscopy and strong-field phenomena. For the progressive development of the laser system and its applications, the development of a pulse characterization setup tailored for ultrashort pulses around 2.3 µm is strongly demanded. Here, we report on the pulse characterization for sub-50 i fs Cr:ZnS oscillator pulses [2] , [3] based on two-dimensional spectral shearing interferometry (2DSI) [4] .