TOWARD A TERAWATT-SCALE SUB-10-FS LASER TECHNOLOGY

Powerful techniques for spectral broadening and ultrabroad-band disper sion control, which allow compression of high energy femtosecond pulse s to a duration of a few optical cycles, are analyzed. Spectral broade ning in a gas-filled hollow fiber and compression by chirped mirrors w ith high-energy 20-fs input pulses are presented. Using 1-mJ seed puls es we have demonstrated the generation of 0.5-mJ 5-fs pulses at 0.8-mu m and 1-kHz repetition rate. General design criteria to scale the com pression technique toward the terawatt level are presented.