Pulse broadening of the femtosecond pulses in a Gaussian beam passing an angular disperser.

A general analytical formula has been found to describe the evolution of the pulse width of the femtosecond pulses in a Gaussian beam after passing an angular disperser without the assumption of well collimation. This formula is experimentally verified by measuring the pulse width with an autocorrelator based on two-photon absorption. It is found that the effect of the spectral lateral walk-off and group delay dispersion on the pulse-width evolution, and its dependence on the distance traveled, are substantially different when the beam has not been well collimated than from when it has been collimated. These differences result from the decaying nature of the angular dispersion of the Gaussian beam sent across a distance.