Efficient nonlinear post-compression to sub-20 fs using an air-filled multipass cell

Abstract

We demonstrate nonlinear post-compression of 1-kHz, 185-fs pulses at a 1038-nm center wavelength to sub-20 fs, using a single-stage multipass cell filled with ambient air. The pulse energy out of the multipass cell is >130 μJ, with a corresponding throughput over 90%. Here, the multipass cell uses standard broadband mirrors without dispersion engineering and ambient air as the nonlinear medium, making it the simplest and most cost-effective solution for generating few-cycle femtosecond pulses.