Abstract

Dispersion delay lines (DDLs) are used for dispersion compensation in ultrafast optics. Note that the correct determination of the time delay of DDLs is based on the tautochronism principle: in an optical system consisting of refracting and reflecting elements the time delay between any two wavefronts is the same for all rays. But for diffraction gratings this principle is not valid; the time delay between the wavefronts of incident and diffracted waves for different light rays is different. However, fortunately, a pair of diffraction gratings can be combined so that the input and the output wavefronts of the system still satisfy the tautochronism principle. There are only two such grating systems: Treacy’s system and Martinez’s system. Both these systems are closely related to each other: in Martinez’s system one can see virtual Treacy’s system. Note that according to the tautochronism principle, dispersion Martinez’s system and virtual Treacy’s system are equal in value but opposite in sign.

©2012 Optical Society of America

Reinvestigation on the frequency dispersion of a grating-pair compressor

Jin Jer Huang, Liu Yang Zhang, and Yu Qiang Yang
Opt. Express 19(2) 814-819 (2011)

Dispersion properties of grating-based rapid scanning optical delay lines

Wanrong Gao
Appl. Opt. 46(6) 986-992 (2007)

Rapid scanning optical delay line based on a diffraction grating pair for a low-coherence reflectometer

Y. Kolokoltsev, I. Gómez-Arista, J. Garduño-Mejía, M. Avendaño-Alejo, C. G. Treviño-Palacios, and O. Kolokoltsev
Appl. Opt. 57(16) 4542-4550 (2018)

Dispersion in a grating-based optical delay line for optical coherence tomography

Walter K. Niblack, John Otto Schenk, Bin Liu, and Mark E. Brezinski
Appl. Opt. 42(19) 4115-4118 (2003)

Delay and dispersion characteristics of a frequency-domain optical delay line for scanning interferometry

Andrei V. Zvyagin, Elwyn D. J. Smith, and David D. Sampson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 20(2) 333-341 (2003)