PASSIVE PULSE SHAPING OF FEMTOSECOND PULSES USING BIREFRINGENT DISPERSIVE MEDIA

Theoretical and experimental study of linear propagation of femtosecon d laser pulses through a birefringent dispersive medium is presented. Ordinary and extraordinary components of the pulse propagate through t he crystal with different group velocities and they acquire different chirp. We show that, under proper circumstances, the output pulse show s significant time dependent change of polarization. The effect can be used to shape such pulses yielding, for example, a series of equally spaced short pulses. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.