Laser-triggered ultrafast streak camera for the measurement of ultrashort events on the femtosecond time scale

We have developed a new diagnostic that allows accurate time- and space-resolved measurements of low intensity femtosecond light pulses, from the infrared to the hard x- rays. Based on an ultrafast streak camera, this revolutionary tool allows the accumulation of streak traces at rates up to a state-of-the-art 1 kHz which is of great interest to understand the dynamics of ultrafast phenomena in physics and chemistry. Axis Photonique Inc. has commercialized a unique subpicosecond streak camera which was especially developed at INRS-U. of Quebec to record ultrafast events in the x-rays. A laser-triggered sweep unit developed by Medox Electro-Optics Inc. and using high- voltage photoconductive switches designed by Alliage was coupled to the AXIS-PX camera. We present here of the characterization tests performed on a 10 Hz high-power laser at the Max Planck Institut fur Quantenoptik.