Abstract
The generation of stable trains of ultrashort optical pulses from dye lasers has greatly enhanced our ability to explore ultrafast phenomena. We examine the physical mechanisms which generate these stable trains of ultrashort pulses in dye lasers. In particular, we focus on the problem of balancing the four basic pulse shaping mechanisms of saturable gain, saturable loss, self-phase modulation, and group velocity dispersion so as to generate the shortest pulses and the most stable pulse trains.1,2 Stable trains of pulses with durations as short as 27 fs have been generated using the combined action of these four mechanisms in a laser oscillator.2 We also examine why all four, as opposed to two or three, of these pulse shaping mechanisms are needed to generate the shortest pulses and the most stable pulse trains. We also discuss a dye amplifier structure designed to extend this technique to multipass amplification of ultrashort pulses.3
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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