SPATIAL CHIRPED CAVITY FOR TEMPORALLY STRETCHING/COMPRESSING OPTICAL PULSES

摘要

Systems and methods for optical pulse stretching or compression in time are provided. An apparatus of the subject invention can operate as an optical dispersive element for optical pulse stretching or compression in time, as well as laser scanning in space. An apparatus can include a spatial disperser (2) arranged to divide a collimated optical pulsed beam into a beamlet array of beamlets with equally spaced angles, a beam shaper (3) configured to control the spreading angle of the beamlet array, and a cavity (4) to sequentially reflect the individual beamlets within the beamlet array. The cavity (4) can include two non-parallel surfaces, such as two non-parallel mirrors.