Sub-10fs Ti:sapphire lasers

Summary form only given. Progress in chirped mirror technology and recognition of the benefits of a ring oscillator for the generation of extremely short pulses have recently resulted in the development of a mirror-dispersion-controlled (MDC) Ti:sapphire ring oscillator. This prototype MDC ring laser produces currently optical pulses comprising less than three optical cycles within their FWHM at a wavelength of /spl sim/800 nm. In strong contrast to any previous ultrashort-pulse oscillator design, its performance is merely limited by the phase-error-free bandwidth of the chirped mirrors currently available. Using this novel resonator design, any future progress in chirped mirror technology is expected to result in a further shortening of the pulses and hence pushing the limits of femtosecond technology.