How to perform two color femtosecond experiments with two independently tunable, partially synchronized lasers with 5-10 ps timing jitters

Abstract

Even in this day of proliferation of widely tunable femtosecond laser sources, severe limitations exist when one tries to perform two color femtosecond experiments with two independently tunable femtosecond lasers, One can generate, by clever cavity manipulation, two perfectly synchronized femtosecond pulses, but with very limited tunability. On the other hand, commercially available systems deliver completely independent tunability over the entire tuning range, but with timing jitters in the range of 5-10 ps. Here, we have developed a novel scheme which allows true two color femtosecond experiments with independent tunability of the two lasers.