Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Rick Trebino, Georgia Institute of Technology & Swamp Optics LLC, USA
Prof. Dr. Selçuk Aktürk, Dr. Pamela Bowlan, Jacob Cohen, Dr. Pablo Gabolde, Dr. Xun Gu, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Abstract:
In 1991, when only very rough measures of ultrashort laser pulses were available, Rick Trebino’s group developed the first successful device for measuring their precise intensity and phase vs. time, called frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG). Today FROG is the gold standard of pulse measurement. Since then, his group has solved (or assisted in solving) essentially every pulse-measurement problem, from very complex pulses to very weak pulses (a few photons), culminating in clever, practical techniques for measuring the complete spatio-temporal intensity and phase of even complex pulses on a single shot and at a tight focus. Their techniques have played key roles in numerous breakthroughs, from attosecond science to metrology, to coherent control, to light bullets. These surprisingly easy-to-use, but powerful devices now measure ultrashort light pulses more completely than is possible for cw light, leading to a wide range of likely important future applications, from micro-machining to medical imaging.