Tunable Ti:Al2O3 oscillator optimized for high-repetition-rate and short pulses

A laser was designed and constructed with the goal of producing ultra-short pulses at a high repetition rate as needed for certain applications of multi-photon microscopy. With pure prism-based dispersion compensation repetition rates of up to 270MHz were achieved. The laser operates with hard- and soft-aperturing at the third (diverging output) and the first (parallel output) stability limits, respectively. At the third stability limit we found a pulse width of 27fs (FWHM) at 800nm central wavelength. At the first stability limit pulse widths of 23-40fs with tunability from 780nm to 920nm were reached.