Dual-comb electric-field cross-correlation technique for optical arbitrary waveform characterization.

We present an electric-field cross-correlation technique that uses a pair of frequency combs to sweep phase and group delays independently without a mechanical stage. We demonstrate this technique for characterization of optical arbitrary waveforms composed of ~30 spectral lines from a 10 GHz frequency comb. Rapid data acquisition (tens of microseconds) enables interferometric spectral phase measurement of pulses subject to propagation over 20 km of optical fiber.