Direct characterisation of tuneable few-femtosecond dispersive-wave pulses in the deep UV

Dispersive wave emission (DWE) in gas-filled hollowcore dielectric waveguides is a promising source of tuneable coherent and broadband radiation, but so far the generation of few-femtosecond pulses using this technique has not been demonstrated. Using invacuum frequency-resolved optical gating, we directly characterise tuneable 3 fs pulses in the deep ultraviolet generated via DWE. Through numerical simulations, we identify that the use of a pressure gradient in the waveguide is critical for the generation of short pulse