HIGH-ENERGY, REDUCED PULSE DURATIONSHORT-PULSE FEMTOSECOND LASER SYSTEM

摘要

The present invention relates to a system (1) for generating a reduced-durationshort laser pulse, comprising; input laser beam generation means (3) supplying a femtosecond laser pulse (4) of wavelength λ propagating along the z-axis, with spatially uniform amplitude; a transparent plate (5) positioned to bisect the z-axis of propagation of the pulse, the laser pulse having a surface power density such that it induces self-phase modulation as the pulse traverses the transparent plate, in such a way as to generate an expanded-spectrum laser pulse; and compression means (7) arranged to compress the expanded-spectrum laser pulse, in such a way as to generate a reduced-duration laser pulse. The system is such that the input laser beam generation means (3) are suitable for a pulse with an energy greater than 1 Joule, and the transparent plate (5) is formed from a flexible transparent film.