SHAPING OF PHASE AND AMPLITUDE OF ULTRASHORT LASER-PULSES WITH ORGANIC SPECTRAL HOLE-BURNING MATERIALS

Thin films of spectral hole burning materials (dyes such as chlorin or phthalocyanines in a matrix) are shown to serve well as highly spectr ally selective, linear filters for ultrashort laser pulses. The materi als exhibit a large ratio of width of the inhomogeneously broadened ab sorption band to the width of the zero phonon lines of the photochromi c materials and have been used to shape both the phase and amplitude o f the output of a Ti:sapphire laser. The preparation of the materials and a variety of their applications are presented.