Microoptical and integrated optical fs/ps pulse shapers

The generation of 875 fs nearly rect-shaped pulses from 96 fs sech 2 shaped Ti:sapphire laser pulses by means of a microoptical pulse shaper is presented conceptually and experimentally. Pulse shaping is performed by time frequency filtering of the input spectrum within a Fourier optical 4f setup with entrance and exit grating. The setup uses an optimized reflective filter concept with 40 nm filter bandwidth giving improved pulse shape at acceptable temporal pulse extension. Moreover, an integrated optical concept with inherent dispersion compensation for shaping ps pulses is proposed which employs an integrated film waveguide based telescopic system with curved waveguide mirrors for improved filtering of a limited spectral bandwidth.