Pulse splitter with dispersion compensation

A method for performing optical imaging of an object, the method comprises:

• providing a pulse splitting device (5) adapted to receive irradiation pulses (10) with a central wavelength (λ) from a pulsed irradiation source (2) and output a plurality of sub-pulses (11,12,15,17) for each incoming irradiation pulse, the pulse splitter comprising
• a first region (13) with a first material (m0) having a first refractive index (n0), and a second region (23) with a second material (m1) having a second refractive index (n1);
• and
• configuring the received irradiation pulses and the pulse splitter (5) for interacting so that at least a first and a second sub-pulse (11,12) are temporally separated by a first optical path length (OP1) in the first region and a second optical path length (OP2) in the second region, respectively,
• wherein the first optical path length (OP1) times the group velocity dispersion (GVD1) with respect to wavelength in the first material, is balanced with the second optical path length (OP2) times the group velocity dispersion (GVD2) with respect to wavelength in the second material, so that the dispersion broadening of the first and the second sub-pulses (11,12) is substantially equal.