Lasers with pulse duration below 1 picosecond are referred to as femtosecond or ultrafast lasers. Femtosecond laser pulses contain a large spectral bandwidth and high peak power. These characteristics lead to strong nonlinear effects in a variety of materials.

Applications include: laser spectroscopy, wavelength conversion, nonlinear optical studies, material processing and high energy physics.

Ti:sapphire Lasers

Titanium doped sapphire lasers (Ti:sapphire) are the most widely used ultrafast lasers today.

  • Ti:sapphire emits in the near-infrared with a spectral range from 650-1100 nm.
  • Pulsed laser operation is possible over most of this wavelength range.
  • Ultrafast Ti:sapphire lasers take advantage of nonlinear optical effects in the Ti:sapphire material itself to induce mode-locking (pulsed operation).