Compensation of SPM-induced pulse distortions in chirped-pulse amplification systems

Summary form only given. Here we show that self phase modulated (SPM)-induced wings can be completely removed. Though SPM-induced distortions are usually considered uncompressible, we show that SPM of a strongly chirped pulse is a linear operation in the frequency domain and, therefore, can be corrected by an opposite linear operation. SPM-induced wings can be greatly reduced with small adjustments to the grating compressor, and can be eliminated with a Fourier-plane pulse shaper.