Path to compact, robust sources for ultrashort laser pulses
Monday, June 3, 2013 - 21:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Laser researchers are challenging a basic assumption of engineering: "You can't have it all." They have shown that for applications in biomedical optics, material processing, and communications, a new approach could deliver desired capabilities with no problematic tradeoffs: In compact, inexpensive, efficient and long-lived lasers that produce ultrashort, high-energy light pulses. They present experimental results with pulses as short as 60 picoseconds and predict that this technique will allow practical subpicosecond devices.