title: Low-dispersion, high-gain femtosecond optical pulse amplifier.
abstract: We demonstrate a novel amplifier for femtosecond optical pulses. The output of a colliding-pulse mode-locked laser is amplified to 0.3 microJ per pulse at a repetition rate of 8 kHz by using 1 W of pump power from a copper-vapor laser. Our high-efficiency amplifier focuses the beam for four gain passes through a thin dye stream that uses a Z configuration with matched focusing. Because of low group-velocity dispersion, the output pulses are only slightly broadened, from 63 to 73 fsec, and may be used directly to generate a white-light continuum without pulse compression after amplification.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rodenberger
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Grossman
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Garito