Double-chirped mirror pairs covering one octave of bandwidth

Summary form only given. Sub-10 fs pulse generation via external compression as well as direct generation from Kerr-Lens mode-locked laser oscillators relies on chirped mirrors for dispersion compensation. Pulses shorter than two optical cycles have been generated directly from the laser using double chirped mirror (DCMs) for precise control of the intracavity group delay dispersion (GDD) over almost 400 nm bandwidth. To approach the generation of single cycle pulses laser optics with a bandwidth of more than one octave are necessary. In this paper, an analytic design of double-chirped mirror (DCM) pairs covering one octave of bandwidth with reflectivities greater than 99.5% and improved dispersion characteristics is presented. Results achieved with fabricated mirror pairs are shown.