Abstract

Recent advances in mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser technology make possible the routine generation of pulses as short as 11 fs directly from a laser.¹ Frequency doubling the 800-850 nm fundamental of these lasers may make possible pulses of unprecedented short duration in the blue. Both intracavity and extracavity doubling of femtosecond pulses from Ti:Sapphire and CPM lasers have been demonstrated.²-⁴ Intracavity doubling is simpler, and also has the advantage of much higher power in the doubling crystal, and therefore, much higher efficiency. Previously, the shortest pulses generated using intracavity doubling were 54 fs at 430 nm.

© 1994 Optical Society of America