Strongly enhanced negative dispersion from thermal lensing or other focusing effects in femtosecond laser cavities

Abstract

We demonstrate a new scheme for dispersion compensation in femtosecond laser cavities, exploiting the observation that the negative dispersion from a Brewster interface can be strongly enhanced by the focusing effect of a curved surface on a prism or of a thermal lens in the gain medium. Based on this scheme, a high-power Nd:glass laser generated femtosecond pulses without a prism pair. We present a detailed analytical, numerical, and experimental analysis of the discovered dispersion effects. Also, we anticipate the application of these effects for compensation of higher-order dispersion in a broad bandwidth, using a specially designed nonspherically curved mirror surface.

© 2000 Optical Society of America

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