Chirped-mirror-dispersion-compensated all-solid-state femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser

Mode-locked Cr:LiSAF lasers are attractive femtosecond-pulse sources because Cr:LiSAF has a broad emission band (FWHM-200 nm) almost comparable with that of Ti:sapphire and can be directly pumped by diode lasers. Mode-locked Cr:LiSAF lasers could be compact and inexpensive sub-10-fs pulse sources. Recently, based on a precise measurement of Cr:LiSAF dispersion, 10 fs pulses were produced from an all-solid-state femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser with a prism pair. In this report, we succeed to expand the spectrum of an all-solid-state femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser using broadband chirped mirrors to produce sub-10-fs pulses.