Materials and new approaches for ultrashot pulse lasers

Rapid progress in the development of ultrashort pulse lasers has continued through 1995. Some of the highlights are the development of a novel mode-locking technique called soliton mode-locking, intracavity semiconductor saturable absorbers and novel dispersion compensation with chirped mirrors. For the first time in the history of ultrafast lasers, practical diode-pumped continuous-wave mode-locked solid state lasers with pulse durations of less than 100 fs have been demonstrated.