N. Dimitrov, A. Dreischuh, N. Kazlachev, M. Zhekova
Abstract.
It is natural for experimentalists to desire to fully explore the capabilities of their lasers, and to use them to their full potential in subsequent experiments. In the case of laser oscillators with resonators constructed with chirped mirrors and/or completely sealed, these possibilities are quite limited. On the contrary, in classical femtosecond oscillators containing pair of prisms for intracavity dispersion control, this is possible and relatively simple. This is also the likely situation at the first stage of development of a home-built femtosecond oscillator. A prerequisite of course is, that the necessary diagnostic equipment is available. This paper is devoted to a detailed characterization of a Ti:Sapphire Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond laser oscillator with an intracavity prism pair and an external sequence of chirped mirrors to fully exploit the possibilities of tuning its output parameters.