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A 5-MW Laser for Ultrafast Spectroscopy at a 10-fsec Time Scale

Maxim S. Pshenichnikov, Wim P. de Boeij, and Douwe A. Wiersma, Ultrafast Laser and Spectroscopy Laboratory, Department of Chemical Physics, State University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

The Ti:sapphire laser is rapidly becoming the light source in all ultrafast laboratories providing, reliably, 10-15 fsec pulses with 4-5 nJ energy at 80 MHz repetition rate. Meanwhile, a wide range of nonlinear ultrafast experiments would greatly benefit from a Ti:sapphire laser-based light source that generates more powerful pulses at variable repetition rates, without sacrificing the ultrashort pulse duration or any other performance of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. We have recently succeeded in building such a laser by incorporating a cavity dumper at a stategic position into the resonator of a self-modelocked Ti:sapphire laser.