Parametric amplification and self-compression of ultrashort tunable pulses

Using a 40-fs Ti:sapphire pump laser, we produced 20-fs infrared pulses in a /spl beta/-barium borate (BaB/sub 2/O/sub 4/) optical parametric amplifier without any external dispersion compensation. These results are in good agreement with a novel semi-analytical computer simulation. We also demonstrate that cascading of second-order nonlinear effects yields simultaneous production of ultrashort visible pulses from a near-infrared (NIR) pump.