Quartz prism sequence for reduction of cubic phase in a mode-locked Ti:Al(2)O(3) laser

A sequence of four quartz prisms can be used to obtain large negative group-velocity dispersion with reasonable prism spacings and a small residual cubic phase. For a given value of the second-order dispersion and assuming minimal prism insertion, the third-order dispersion is 20% less than that of prism pairs that have been used in Ti:Al(2)O(3) lasers. A mode-locked Ti:Al(2)O(3) laser that includes the prism sequence generates pulses with intensity autocorrelations as short as 33 fs. Spectral bandwidths as large as 80 nm can also be obtained. A measurement of the dispersion of the laser shows that the cubic phase is approximately that of the prism sequence and the laser rod.