Carrier-envelope offset dynamics and stabilization of femtosecond lasers

Summary form only given. Control of the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) phase enables optical waveform synthesis and is of considerable importance in optical precision frequency metrology. Here we report on stabilization of the CEO frequency to an external rf reference oscillator with a jitter of 20 mrad (rms). This unprecedented low value corresponds to a relative timing jitter between laser carrier and envelope of 10 attoseconds (rms). Our stabilization is based on a careful investigation of sources of CEO phase fluctuations. We use chirped mirrors together with a prism sequence as well as mirror-only dispersion compensation in a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser.