Optical pulse compression using a TeO₂ acousto-optical light deflector

A new technique for optical pulse compression is proposed that incorporates abnormal Bragg diffraction in a TeO₂ acousto-optical deflector. A transverse acoustic wave in TeO₂ with a velocity as slow as 616 m/sec and a carrier frequency of 250 MHz produces a dispersion constant of 0.1 psec/nm at 600 nm. The 300-fsec optical pulse from a cavity-damped, synchronously pumped laser is successfully compressed to 70 fsec with a peak power of 83 kW.