Pulse analyser gets software and hardware upgrades

17th May 2016

Mick Elliott

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Ultra-short pulses in the order of femtoseconds and picoseconds are finding their way into various industrial applications from micromachining to optical sensing and imaging. Due to their extremely short time duration, they cannot be characterised using electrical test and measurement tools. Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) technique uses autocorrelation of the pulses itself to characterise its intensity and phase profile, giving you a complete characterisation of the optical pulse.

This has led to Coherent Solutions releasing its latest optical pulse analyser, the IQFROG. It features newly improved software and new hardware architecture for increased robustness and stability.

The new software is optimised to measure a wider range of pulse characteristics, including broad chirped pulses used for Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA). The multi-functional software controls the hardware, monitors the Second Harmonic Spectrum and performs the FROG algorithm intensity and phase recovery to make it user-friendly.

The IQFROG hardware comes in two varieties: IQFROG 1.5 micron and IQFROG 1.0 micron, each optimized for the specific wavelength ranges. Both versions come with 200ps of temporal scan range, making it the only optical pulse analyser on the market that can measure pulses as broad as 50ps.

It is also the only FROG on the market that comes with a connectorised optical input as a standard feature, eliminating the need to perform input beam alignment - the most time consuming process in the operation of many optical pulse analysers.

“IQFROG is the answer to situations where an autocorrelation trace is just not enough. Knowing the exact intensity and phase profiles of your pulse opens the door to a whole new level of insight into your research or product development. Now with IQFROG, harnessing this power is easier than ever.” said Dr Sung-Hoon Im, Director of Technical Sales of Coherent Solutions.

The IQFROG is commercially available and will be on display at CLEO 2016 (June 7-9) in San Jose, California.