Ultrashort Light Pulses

Abstract

Experimental techniques are now available for the generation of repetitive and single coherent optical pulses of extremely short time duration and high peak power. These pulses should find extensive application in basic and applied research. Additional shortening of optical pulse durations can be obtained by means of the stimulated Raman effect, second-harmonic generation, or amplification with nonlinear laser amplifiers.

Second Harmonic Generation From Short Pulses

“…The depletion of laser power due to production of second harmonic of comparable intensity has been neglected in Eq. (1). It is also clear from Eq.…”

<title>Glass Lasers</title>

“…Shorter pulses can therefore be obtained using a broadlinewidth material such as glass (Ref. 9). Pulses as short as 250 femtoseconds have recently been reported (Ref.…”

Mode Locking of an Organic Dye Laser

“…The availability of ultrashort pulses with any desired wavelength would greatly increase their applicability to studies of nonlinear transient optical effects, spectroscopy, and lifetime measurements. 6 This Letter reports the mode locking of a dye laser achieved by pumping with another modelocked laser. If the pumping signal for a dye laser consists of a mode-locked train of pulses, the gain of the laser will have a periodic variation with a period equal to the spacing between the pumping pulses.…”