Abstract

The development of ultrashort-pulse oscillators by using Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) has allowed the generation of pulses as short as 10 fs with pulse energies of a few nanojoules. To increase the available pulse energy by an order of magnitude without the use of separate amplification systems, cavity dumping of pulses can be used,^1,2 Cavity dumping exploits an ultrafast Bragg diffraction cell to switch out a single pulse from the oscillator with high efficiency. Because this represents a large perturbation to the KLM process, the investigation of the recovery of the oscillator immediately after the switchout gives a good example of a solitonlike evolution out of equilibrium. This can yield insight into the physics of the oscillator itself.

© 1995 Optical Society of America