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

An extended cavity femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser pumped by low cost diode lasers

R. P. Prasankumar, Y. Hirakawa, A. M. Kowalevicz Jr., F. X. Kaertner, J. G. Fujimoto, and W. H. Knox
Opt. Express 11(11) 1265-1269 (2003)

Generation of sub-10-fs pulses from a Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr³⁺:LiCAF laser oscillator by use of third-order dispersion-compensating double-chirped mirrors

P. C. Wagenblast, U. Morgner, F. Grawert, T. R. Schibli, F. X. Kärtner, V. Scheuer, G. Angelow, and M. J. Lederer
Opt. Lett. 27(19) 1726-1728 (2002)

Generation of 90-nJ pulses with a 4-MHz repetition-rate Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:Al₂O₃ laser operating with net positive and negative  intracavity  dispersion

S. H. Cho, F. X. Kärtner, U. Morgner, E. P. Ippen, J. G. Fujimoto, J. E. Cunningham, and W. H. Knox
Opt. Lett. 26(8) 560-562 (2001)

Self-starting 6.5-fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser

I. D. Jung, F. X. Kärtner, N. Matuschek, D. H. Sutter, F. Morier-Genoud, G. Zhang, U. Keller, V. Scheuer, M. Tilsch, and T. Tschudi
Opt. Lett. 22(13) 1009-1011 (1997)

All-solid-state femtosecond multi-kilohertz laser system based on a new cavity-dumped oscillator design

Nickolai Zhavoronkov, Hiroaki Maekawa, Hiroaki Okuno, and Keisuke Tominaga
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 22(3) 567-571 (2005)