Michael K. Steiner-Shepard

Widely tunable femtosecond optical parametric amplifier at 250 kHz with a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier

A Ti:sapphire mode-locked regenerative amplifier system pumped with a single argon-ion laser produces 4-μJ, 170-fs pulse of 800-nm wavelength at a 250-kHz repetition rate. Part of this output is used to generate a high-beam-quality white-light continuum, while the rest is doubled to 400 nm and used to parametrically amplify visible components of this continuum to more than 100 nJ. Synchronized with the visible signal pulse tunable from 460 to 700 nm is an infrared idler pulse tunable from 2.4 to 0.9 μm.

Double Gires-Tournois interferometer negative-dispersion mirrors for use in tunable mode-locked lasers.

We report the implementation and operation of novel superhigh-reflectivity negative-dispersion dielectric mirrors for use in tunable ultrafast laser systems. The mirror structure is divided into two distinct regions: an underlying superhigh-reflectivity dielectric quarter-wavelength stack and an overlying negative-dispersion section consisting of only a few layers and forming simple multiple Gires-Tournois interferometers. The example that we present was designed for operation from 800 to 900 nm and has a near-constant group-delay dispersion of -40 fs(2) and a peak reflectivity greater than 99.99%. We show a comparison of the predicted and the measured mirror performance and application of these mirrors in a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser tunable from 805 to 915 nm.

Tunable ultraviolet generation using a femtosecond 250 kHz Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier

A mode-locked Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system pumped with a single argon ion laser produces /spl mu/J energy 100 femtosecond pulses of 800 nm wavelength at 250 kHz repetition rate. Pumping a Type II BaB/sub 2/O/sub 4/ (BBO) optical parametric amplifiers (OPA) with this output generates 500 nJ infrared pulses and continuous tuning from 1.1 /spl mu/m to beyond 2.5 /spl mu/m. Difference frequency generation of the signal idler output from this OPA source in AgGaS/sub 2/ produces 60 nJ mid infrared pulses and continuous tuning from 2.4 /spl mu/m to beyond 12 /spl mu/m.

30-fs pulses tunable across the visible with a 100-kHz Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier.

A 100-kHz mode-locked Ti:sapphire-seeded regenerative amplifier pumping an optical parametric amplifier generates femtosecond pulses tunable from 470 to 710 nm. This output was compressed with a pair of prisms to bandwidth-limited pulses of 80- to 40-fs duration and more than 150 nJ of energy. These tunable pulses were then bandwidth expanded through self-phase modulation in bulk material and further compressed to less than 30-fs duration.

Vitesse : A compact diode-pumped Ti :sapphire ultrafast oscillator

We describe a turn-key Ti:Sapphire ultrafast oscillator that we are manufacturing for industrial and scientific applications.

Midinfrared Femtosecond Pulse Generation Using a 250 kHz Ti:Sapphire Pumped BBO OPA and DFG in AgGaS2

A 250-kHz, 100-fs, Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system pumping a Type-II BBO OPA generated 0.5-µJ with continuous tuning from 1.1-µm to beyond 2.5-µm. Difference frequency generation of the signal-idler output from this source in AgGaS2 produced 15-mW with continuous tuning from 2.4-µm to beyond 12-µm.

An efficient diode-based Ti:sapphire ultrafast laser

175-mW of 50-fs pulses and 30-mW of SHG is generated by a Ti:sapphire ultrafast laser pumped with a 780-mW power 532-nm intracavity doubled Nd:YAG ring laser pumped with a single 4-W GaAlAs diode. Reducing the 532-nm power to 600-mW produced more than 100-mW from a prism compensated ultrafast laser and more than 75-mW from a GTI mirror compensated version.

Infrared femtosecond pulse generation with a 250 kHz Ti:sapphire pumped ß-BaB2O4 optical parametric amplifier

A 250-kHz, 100-fs, Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system pumping a Type-II BBO OPA generated 0.5-µJ with continuous tuning from 1.1-µm to beyond 2.5-µm. Difference frequency generation of the signal-idler output from this source in AgGaS2 produced 15-mW with continuous tuning from 2.4-µm to beyond 12-µm.

Femtosecond pulse generation via Kerr lens mode-locking in Ti:A12O3

Abstract OnlyFEMTOSECOND PULSE GENERATION VIA KERR LENS MODELOCKENG IN ThA1203Daniel K. Negus, Luis Spinelli, Norman Goldblatt,Michael Steiner-Shepherd, John AmbroseoCoherent Laser Group3210 Porter DrivePalo Alto, California 94304Numerous methods have been demonstrated to produce tunable pulses from Ti:sapphire. Thereported results have ranged from 600ps down to 5Ofs with varying tunability. We describe a novel modelocking technique which utilizes the intensity dependent refractive index, n, of theTi: sapphire to generate a time-varying Kerr lens. The Kerr lensing effects are optimizedwithin a nonlinear resonator to create differential gain for modelocked operation as well assaturable absorption. In addition, the resulting high intensity pulses are shown to behave in a quasi-soliton manner in which the chirp introduced by SPM is precisely compensated byintracavity GVD compensation. Nearly transform limited sub-lOOfs pulses have beendemonstrated at high average power and typical system performance will be discussed.