Abstract

Chirped dielectric mirrors offer a general solution for broadband dispersion control and feedback in femtosecond laser systems¹. Since the first demonstration of a prismless femtosecond Ti:sapphire (Ti:S) laser, femtosecond Ti:S laser oscillators generating sub-10-fs pulses^2,3, parametric oscillators⁴ and Ti:S amplifiers⁵ were built utilizing chirped mirrors for second- and higher-order dispersion compensation. The shortest laser pulses (7.5 fs) were obtained from a mirror dispersion controlled Ti:sapphire ring oscillator³ by replacing conventional dichroic mirrors by chirped mirrors transparent for the pump wavelengths. Until now, however, only a few papers have been devoted to the theoretical⁶ and technological⁷ challanges in connection with their design and manufacture.

© 1996 IEEE