Open AccessPoor man’s source for sub 7 fs: a simple route to ultrashort laser pulses and their full characterization
Author(s) -
Bruno E. Schmidt,
W. Unrau,
Aldo Mirabal,
Shaohui Li,
M. Krenz,
L. Wöste,
Thorsten Siebert
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.16.018910
Subject(s) - filamentation , optics , laser , materials science , frequency resolved optical gating , ti:sapphire laser , ultrashort pulse , sapphire , chirp , self phase modulation , nonlinear optics , femtosecond pulse shaping , physics
A practicable and economic method for the generation and full characterization of laser pulses ranging down to sub 7 fs duration with energies spanning the full microJ domain is presented. The method utilizes a self-induced and self-guiding filamentation of titanium-sapphire based, amplified pulses in air for spectral broadening, a standard chirp mirror compression scheme and transient grating frequency resolved optical gating for determining the spectral phase over the full visible to near infrared range. In this manner, few-cycle laser pulses with a high quality in the spatial beam profile have been generated in an robust arrangement with a minimal amount of standard optical components for their full characterization. The optical scheme demonstrates an uncomplicated, versatile access to this regime of pulsed laser radiation accompanied by a comprehensive analysis.