  We demonstrate a tilted pulse-front transient grating technique that allows
to optimally utilize time-resolution as well as transient grating line density
while probing under grazing incidence as typically done in extreme ultraviolet
(EUV) or soft x-ray (SXR) experiments. Our optical setup adapts the pulse front
tilt of the two pulses that create the transient grating to the relative tilt
grazing incident pulse. We demonstrate the technique using all 800 nm
femtosecond laser pulses for transient grating generation on a vanadium dioxide
film. We probe that grating via diffraction of a third 800 nm pulse. The time
resolution of 100 fs is an improvement by a factor 30 compared to our previous
experiments on the same system (1,2). The scheme paves the way for EUV and SXR
probing of optically induced transient gratings on any material.
