DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF DOUBLE-CHIRPED MIRRORS

We present an analytic design method for the reproducible fabrication of double-chirped mirrors to achieve simultaneously a high reflectivit y and dispersion compensation over an extended bandwidth compared with those of standard quarter-wave Bragg mirrors. The mirrors are fabrica ted by ion beam sputtering. Use of these mirrors in a Ti:sapphire lase r leads to 6.5-fs pulses directly out of the laser. The method can als o be applied to the design of chirped-fiber gratings and general optic al filters. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.