Angle-multiplexed spatial-spectral interferometry for simultaneous measurement of spectral phase and polarization state

A novel method to simultaneously extract the polarization state and relative spectral phase of an ultrashort laser pulse from an anglemultiplexed spatial-spectral interferometric measurement is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Spectral interference is produced between an arbitrary polarized signal pulse and two orthogonal linearly polarized reference pulses. The accuracy of this technique has been verified by reconstructing the known relative spectral phase arising from material dispersion and the known elliptical polarization state. Measurement of the relative spectral phase and the spatially variable polarization state of a radially polarized pulse is also demonstrated. An additional independent measurement of the spectral phase of reference pulses provides absolute spectral and temporal characteristics of the signal pulse.