ON THE WAY TOWARDS THE PULSE-DURATION LIMITS IN PRISMLESS KLM CR-LISGAF AND CR-LISAF LASERS

We make an overview of our latest works on the mirror-dispersion-contr olled (MDC) Kerr-lens mode-locked (KLM) Cr : LiSGaF and Cr : LiSAF las ers, aimed at obtaining sub-20-fs pulses. Such lasers, in comparison t o their prism-controlled forerunners, are distinguished by the high re producibility, stability, and quality of the pulses, as well as compac tness of the cavity. The shortest nearly bandwidth-limited pulses of s imilar to 14 fs duration have been produced in Cr : LiSGaF laser, havi ng an average output power of 100 mW. We discuss the possible pulse du ration limiting mechanisms, such as an intracavity high-order dispersi on and the Raman-induced self-frequency shift of the pulses.