Frequency-doubled. pulses from a sub-40-fs, 1-kHz Ti:sapphire amplifier sys
tem are spectrally broadened in an argon-filled hollow waveguide. Compressi
on of the self-phase-modulated pulses is implemented with chirped mirrors a
nd a prism pair, yielding 8-fs, 15-mu J pulses in the violet spectral range
. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America.