Patent ID: 7230715

Claim:
A method for measuring a pulse shape of a first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light, the method comprising the steps of: a) generating the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light, each pulse of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light including a first pulse width, a predetermined pulse period, and a predetermined peak wavelength; b) generating a second plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light substantially synchronized with the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light, each pulse of the second plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light including; a second pulse width less than the first pulse width of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light; and a peak wavelength substantially equal to the predetermined peak wavelength of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light; c) creating a controllable time offset between the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light and the second plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light, the controllable time offset being less than the predetermined pulse period of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light; d) intersecting time offset pairs of pulses within a nonlinear optical medium to generate a plurality of wavelength converted pulses, each wavelength converted pulse including; a converted pulse width substantially equal to the second pulse width of the second plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light; a converted peak wavelength shorter than the predetermined peak wavelength of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light; and a pulse energy based on the pulse shape of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light and the controllable time offset between the corresponding intersecting pair of pulses; e) detecting the pulse energies of the plurality of wavelength converted pulses generated in step (d) as the controllable time offset between pairs of intersecting pulses is varied; f) determining the pulse shape of first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light from the pulse energies of the plurality of wavelength converted pulses detected in step (e) and the controllable time offsets between corresponding pairs of intersecting pulses; and g) storing the pulse shape of the first plurality of substantially similar pulses of laser light.