Tobias Brixner, Monika Pawłowska, Sebastian Goetz, Christian Dreher, Matthias Wurdack, Enno Krauss, Gary Razinskas, Peter Geisler, Bert Hecht

• We describe a setup consisting of a 4 f pulse shaper and a microscope with a high-NA objective lens and discuss the spects most relevant for an undistorted spatiotemporal profile of the focused beam. We demonstrate shaper-assisted pulse compression in focus to a sub-10-fs duration using phase-resolved interferometric spectral modulation (PRISM). We introduce a nanostructure-based method for sub-diffraction spatiotemporal characterization of strongly focused pulses. The distortions caused by optical aberrations and space–time coupling from theWe describe a setup consisting of a 4 f pulse shaper and a microscope with a high-NA objective lens and discuss the spects most relevant for an undistorted spatiotemporal profile of the focused beam. We demonstrate shaper-assisted pulse compression in focus to a sub-10-fs duration using phase-resolved interferometric spectral modulation (PRISM). We introduce a nanostructure-based method for sub-diffraction spatiotemporal characterization of strongly focused pulses. The distortions caused by optical aberrations and space–time coupling from the shaper can be reduced by careful setup design and alignment to about 10 nm in space and 1 fs in time.…