<title>Generation of intense subpicosecond and femtosecond pulses using non-cw laser systems</title>

Abstract

Microsecond pulse trains with pulse duration < 1 ps are generated by a Nd:glass laser oscillator with 15 Hz repetition rate. Application of these pulses to non-cw synchronous pumping of a dye laser yields intense pulses of 25 fs. Subsequent nonlinear frequency conversion provides femtosecond pulses tunable over the visible spectral range. The pulsed approach is compared with cw modelocking techniques.