Compression of optical pulses

Abstract
A scheme, similar to one used in the chirp radar, is proposed to compress in time, without loss of energy, the light pulse generated by a mode-locked laser. On the basis of preliminary experimental results obtained with a mode-locked He-Ne laser and a LiNbO3phase modulator, it is predicted that compression of 50-ps pulses derived from a Nd:YAG laser to 0.4 ps or less is feasible.