Compensation of resonant atomic dispersion using a pulse shaper

An ultra-short pulse propagating in a resonant dense atomic medium experiences an important distortion due to a strong modification of its spectral phase. This distortion cannot be corrected using the usual simple dispersive devices (a pair of prisms, gratings, etc.). We present here an experimental demonstration of the compensation of this effect using a dual 640-pixel high-resolution pulse-shaper device. A cross-correlation intensity measurement combined with the XFROG (cross-correlated frequency-resolved optical gating) spectral phase measurement of the compensated pulse are performed; efficient correction of the resonant dispersive phase is shown. A spectacular temporal compression of the propagating pulse is then obtained. PACS 92.60.Ta; 42.50.Md; 42.65.Re; 42.79.-e