Single-shot measurement of a laser waveform using plasma fluorescence in ambient air

The temporal characterization of a laser pulse is an important task in studying ultrafast laser-matter interactions. It is ideal to measure the temporal profile of the laser pulse with a single laser shot when the repetition rate is low or its interaction with matter is unstable. Here we report a new approach for the single-shot temporal characterization of a laser pulse, based on the TIPTOE (tunneling ionization with a perturbation of the time-domain observation of an electric field) method. The waveform of the laser pulse is reconstructed from the intensity modulation of plasma fluorescence emission. The result of the single-shot measurement is compared with the time-delay scanning TIPTOE measurements, supporting the validity of the single-shot measurement.