Abstract

Standard femtosecond self-mode-locked oscillators contain a pair of Brewster-angled prisms for producing a net negative group-delay dispersion (GDD) in the resonator. Prism pairs have been widely used for intracavity dispersion control in dye systems and adopted for the new generation of solid-state short-pulse lasers. Extensive theoretical and experimental research revealed that cubic phase dispersion introduced by the intracavity prism pair is the dominant factor limiting the minimum achievable pulse width in ultrafast solid state lasers. This finding prompted search for prism materials exhibiting low cubic phase error and led to the construction of fused-silica-prism-controlled Ti:sapphire lasers,¹ which are capable of generating pulses down to 11/s in duration.²

© 1994 IEEE