A Simple Method for More Precise Pulse-Height Fitting in Sparsely Sampled Data Using Pulse-Shape-Archetype Information, Especially Suited to Ultra-Short-Laser Pulsetrains

Abstract

This paper presents a novel pulse-reconstruction method well suited to sparsely sampled repetitive data, such as commonly arise from trains of ultrashort laser-pulses. Typically waveforms in such traces are fully instrument-limited by the detecting systems, for instance, the combination of detector and oscilloscope, and only the energy of each waveform is sought. The method applies whenever shape of the waveform is the same for every pulse and can be well-characterized, with only amplitude and relative peak-timing changing. Under such conditions this information, known in advance, can be used as a basis - an archetype - for very accurate pulse fitting. Our characterizations show that the method very accurately extracts pulse heights and relative pulse timing, even when sampling routinely misses the pulse peak, and entirely misses the rising or falling edge. We show this method to be adaptable in different detection systems, showing significant improvement in accuracy of measurement, in this class of problem.