Compression of high-power optical pulses

High-power compression of femtosecond pulses is demonstrated in nonlinear bulk material. An energy output of ~100 μJ with a pulse duration of ≤24 fsec is produced at 630 nm, 4 orders of magnitude more energy than can be compressed in optical fibers. The technique is simple and scalable to arbitrarily high pulse energies. In addition, the flexibility in the choice of nonlinear media permits the compression method to be extended from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared.