BOAR: Biprism based optical autocorrelation with retrieval.

A simple and compact single-shot autocorrelator is presented and analyzed in detail. The autocorrelator is composed of two elements only: a Fresnel biprism used to create two temporally delayed replicas of the pulse to characterize and a camera in which two-photon absorption takes place. The two-photon absorption signal obtained in the camera can be used to retrieve the pulse duration, the frequency chirp, and the pulse spectrum, provided that a Gaussian temporal shape is assumed.