The role of chirp on the light–matter interaction of femto- and pico-second laser pulses with functional structured surfaces is studied using drag-reducing riblets as an example. The three-dimensional, periodic microstructure naturally gives rise to a mutual interplay of (i) reflection, (ii) scattering, and (iii) diffraction phenomena of incident coherent light. Furthermore, for femtosecond pulses, the structure induces (iv) an optical delay equivalent to a consecutive temporal delay of 230 fs in places of the pulse. These features enable studying experimentally and numerically the effect of tuning both pulse duration τ and spectral bandwidth Δω on the features of the wide-angle scattering pattern from the riblet structure. As a result, we discovered a significant breakdown of fringes in the scattering pattern with decreasing pulse duration and/or increasing spectral bandwidth. This unique type of chirp control is straightforwardly explained and verified by numerical modeling considering the spectral and temporal interaction between different segments within the scattered, linearly chirped pulse and the particular geometric features of the riblet structure. The visibility of the fringe pattern can be precisely adjusted, and the off-state is achieved using τ<230 fs or Δω>2.85×1013 rad/s.

A novel method for accurately measuring chromatic dispersion of optical fibers is proposed based on the use of chirped intensity-modulated signals. Unlike the conventional method, the proposed method utilizes the configurable transfer function of optical fibers caused by the residual chirp of intensity modulation, which not only eliminates the chirp error but also improves the measurement range through adjusting the chirp parameter of the intensity modulator. Our method is applicable for measuring both the magnitude and sign of chromatic dispersion of optical fibers or other dispersive devices at different operating wavelengths by using a vector network analyzer.