title: Kerr-lens mode locking without dispersion compensation.
abstract: We propose and theoretically investigate a novel operating regime of femtosecond Kerr-lens mode-locked solidstate lasers that avoids group-velocity dispersion compensation by use of a nonresonant semiconductor plate in the focused resonator section that provides an overall negative nonlinear refractive index per round trip. The saturable loss of the laser resonator with an effective self-defocusing nonlinearity is derived from a generalized ABCD matrix formalism, and the correspondingly calculated steady-state pulse parameters show that a Kerrlens mode-locked laser with an overall negative nonlinear refractive index generates stable femtosecond pulses without any dispersion compensation.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gatz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller