Measurement of laser pulse duration by image converter streak camera: a technique for estimating the measurement uncertainty

The photochronographic method using image converter streak cameras currently remains the main method for measuring the temporal characteristics of picosecond laser pulses. But the techniques of accounting for sources and estimating measurement uncertainty developed for this method back in the 1970s are outdated and inapplicable to modern streak cameras with digital image registration. As part of the work on updating the metrological support for measurements of laser pulse duration by means of image converter streak cameras, a technique for estimating the laser pulse duration measurement uncertainty has been developed. The developed technique contains a detailed analysis of the sources of uncertainty and an estimation of their contribution to the combined uncertainty of the measurement result. The technique has been implemented in practice to assess the uncertainty of measurement of the duration of a femtosecond laser pulse passed through a fiberoptic stretcher performed using a K016 image converter streak camera. The practical significance of the research lies in the development of metrological support for duration measurement of picosecond optical pulses. Estimating the uncertainty of the laser pulse duration measurement result with the developed technique will make it possible to standardize the metrological characteristics of measuring instruments for the temporal characteristics of optical pulses, used in laser physics and related fields.