Abstract

Nonlinear pulse compression under special conditions of large group-velocity mismatch (GVM) and strong energy exchange suggested for the first time 8 years ago [1,2], was demonstrated to be a simple and efficient method to generate powerful femtosecond pulses via frequency doubling of picosecond Nd-laser pulses in KDP crystal. However, the direct transfer of this technique to other wavelengths or other well-developed laser sources (Ti:sapphire, for instance) encounters serious problems related to the lack of nonlinear crystals with suitable dispersive properties. To this regard, the use of tilted pulses offers unique possibility to adjust the GVM in a nonlinear crystal for a particular wavelength [3,4].

© 1998 IEEE