Kapteyn-Murnane Labs

M. T. Asaki, C. P. Huang, D. Garvey, J. Zhou, H. C. Kapteyn, and M. M. Murnane, "Generation of 11-fs pulses from a modelocked Ti:sapphire laser," Optics Letters, vol. 18, pp. 977, 1993.

The operation of these ~10 fs oscillators is fundamentally different from that of previous designs, in that dispersion in the laser creates a situation where the pulse duration in the laser is radically different for the pulse traveling in one direction in the laser cavity, compared with the other direction. This fact makes it possible to take advantage of strong "space-time focusing" in the laser crystal to obtain exceptionally stable and reliable modelocked operation. This greatly simplifies implementation of this laser, eliminating the need for, for example, tight temperature control of the ti:sapphire crystal-- often no cooling whatsoever is needed. Another important feature of this cavity design is that fused-silica prism dispersion compensation results in a "fourth-order dispersion" stabilized regime of pulse operation, making it possible to obtain a pulse with spectrum spanning >100 nm FWHM.

The operation of this laser is detailed in a number of papers:

J. P. Zhou, G. Taft, C. P. Huang, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, and I. P. Christov, "Pulse Evolution in a broad bandwidth Ti:sapphire laser," Optics Letters, vol. 19, pp. 1149-1152, 1994.

I. P. Christov, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, J. P. Zhou, and C. P. Huang, "Fourth-order dispersion limited solitary pulses," Optics Letters, vol. 19, pp. 1465, 1994.

I. P. Christov, H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane, C. P. Huang, and J. P. Zhou, "Space-time focusing of femtosecond pulses in Ti:sapphire," Optics Letters, vol. 20, pp. 309-311, 1995.

I. P. Christov, V. Stoev, M. Murnane, and H. Kapteyn, "Mode-locking with a compensated space-time astigmatism," Optics Letters, vol. 20, pp. 2111,1995.

I. P. Christov, V. Stoev, M. Murnane, and H. Kapteyn, "Sub-10fs operation of Kerr-lens modelocked lasers," Optics Letters, vol. 21, pp. 1493, 1996.

The inclusion of prisms also makes it easy to fine-tune both dispersion and spectrally-dependent loss in the cavity, resulting in tunable bandwidth and center wavelength. The characteristic pulse spectrum obtainable from these lasers is especially well-suited to pulse amplification.

The shortest-duration amplified pulses have been obtained using the TS laser as a seed:

E. Zeek, R. Bartels, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, S. Backus, and G. Vdovin, "Adaptive pulse compression for transform-limited 15-fs high- energy pulse generation," Optics Letters, vol. 25, pp. 587-589, 2000.

S. Backus, C. Durfee, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "High Power Ultrafast Lasers," Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 69, pp. 1207-1223, 1998.

This basic design has been duplicated in hundreds of laboratories worldwide, and is adaptable and modular. For example, it has been used for--

Intracavity frequency doubled operation:

M. T. Asaki, S. Backus, C. Baldwin, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "Generation of sub-20 fs 400 nm light using intracavity doubling in Ti:sapphire," in Ultrafast Phenomena IX, W. Knox, P. Barbara, G. A. Mourou, and A. Zewail, Eds.: Springer-Verlag, 1994.

Cavity-dumped operation:

Y. H. Liau, A. N. Unterreiner, D. C. Arnett, and N. F. Scherer, "Femtosecond-pulse cavity-dumped solid-state oscillator design and application to ultrafast microscopy," Applied Optics, vol. 38, pp.7386-7392, 1999. Long-cavity operation:

A. R. Libertun, R. Shelton, H. C. Kapteyn, and M. M. Murnane, "A 36 nJ - 15.5 MHz Extended-Cavity Ti:Sapphire Oscillator," in CLEO 1999 Technical Digest: Optical Society of America, 1999

This laser has found application in both science and technology-- for example, in terahertz generation, and micromachining.

Technical Support - Oscillators

The KMLabs ti:sapphire laser oscillators are based on the article:

The operation of this laser is detailed in a number of papers:

The shortest-duration amplified pulses have been obtained using the TS laser as a seed:

Intracavity frequency doubled operation:

Cavity-dumped operation:





Customer Service Oscillators Amplification Pulse Measurement	Technical Support - Oscillators The KMLabs ti:sapphire laser oscillators are based on the article: M. T. Asaki, C. P. Huang, D. Garvey, J. Zhou, H. C. Kapteyn, and M. M. Murnane, "Generation of 11-fs pulses from a modelocked Ti:sapphire laser," Optics Letters, vol. 18, pp. 977, 1993. The operation of these ~10 fs oscillators is fundamentally different from that of previous designs, in that dispersion in the laser creates a situation where the pulse duration in the laser is radically different for the pulse traveling in one direction in the laser cavity, compared with the other direction. This fact makes it possible to take advantage of strong "space-time focusing" in the laser crystal to obtain exceptionally stable and reliable modelocked operation. This greatly simplifies implementation of this laser, eliminating the need for, for example, tight temperature control of the ti:sapphire crystal-- often no cooling whatsoever is needed. Another important feature of this cavity design is that fused-silica prism dispersion compensation results in a "fourth-order dispersion" stabilized regime of pulse operation, making it possible to obtain a pulse with spectrum spanning >100 nm FWHM. The operation of this laser is detailed in a number of papers: J. P. Zhou, G. Taft, C. P. Huang, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, and I. P. Christov, "Pulse Evolution in a broad bandwidth Ti:sapphire laser," Optics Letters, vol. 19, pp. 1149-1152, 1994. I. P. Christov, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, J. P. Zhou, and C. P. Huang, "Fourth-order dispersion limited solitary pulses," Optics Letters, vol. 19, pp. 1465, 1994. I. P. Christov, H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane, C. P. Huang, and J. P. Zhou, "Space-time focusing of femtosecond pulses in Ti:sapphire," Optics Letters, vol. 20, pp. 309-311, 1995. I. P. Christov, V. Stoev, M. Murnane, and H. Kapteyn, "Mode-locking with a compensated space-time astigmatism," Optics Letters, vol. 20, pp. 2111,1995. I. P. Christov, V. Stoev, M. Murnane, and H. Kapteyn, "Sub-10fs operation of Kerr-lens modelocked lasers," Optics Letters, vol. 21, pp. 1493, 1996. The inclusion of prisms also makes it easy to fine-tune both dispersion and spectrally-dependent loss in the cavity, resulting in tunable bandwidth and center wavelength. The characteristic pulse spectrum obtainable from these lasers is especially well-suited to pulse amplification. The shortest-duration amplified pulses have been obtained using the TS laser as a seed: E. Zeek, R. Bartels, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, S. Backus, and G. Vdovin, "Adaptive pulse compression for transform-limited 15-fs high- energy pulse generation," Optics Letters, vol. 25, pp. 587-589, 2000. S. Backus, C. Durfee, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "High Power Ultrafast Lasers," Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 69, pp. 1207-1223, 1998. This basic design has been duplicated in hundreds of laboratories worldwide, and is adaptable and modular. For example, it has been used for-- Intracavity frequency doubled operation: M. T. Asaki, S. Backus, C. Baldwin, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, "Generation of sub-20 fs 400 nm light using intracavity doubling in Ti:sapphire," in Ultrafast Phenomena IX, W. Knox, P. Barbara, G. A. Mourou, and A. Zewail, Eds.: Springer-Verlag, 1994. Cavity-dumped operation: Y. H. Liau, A. N. Unterreiner, D. C. Arnett, and N. F. Scherer, "Femtosecond-pulse cavity-dumped solid-state oscillator design and application to ultrafast microscopy," Applied Optics, vol. 38, pp.7386-7392, 1999. Long-cavity operation: A. R. Libertun, R. Shelton, H. C. Kapteyn, and M. M. Murnane, "A 36 nJ - 15.5 MHz Extended-Cavity Ti:Sapphire Oscillator," in CLEO 1999 Technical Digest: Optical Society of America, 1999 This laser has found application in both science and technology-- for example, in terahertz generation, and micromachining.

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