Ultrashort light pulses

A tutorial review of the field of ultrashort-pulse generation and use is presented. A brief description of laser operation is followed by a discussion of how short pulses are created. The three techniques examined-active mode locking, passive mode locking, and passive mode locking with pulse compression-produce successively shorter pulses. The potential application of ultrashort pulses to high-speed signal processing and parallel processing is considered.<
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