Spectral compression of femtosecond pulses using chirped volume Bragg gratings

In this Letter, we demonstrate a 360 fold spectral bandwidth reduction of femtosecond laser pulses using the method of sum frequency generation of pulses with opposite chirps. The reduction has been achieved in a compact setup in which a single chirped volume Bragg grating replaces conventional stretcher and compressor units. Starting with 180 fs pulses, we have obtained, with a 30% overall efficiency, pulses longer than 100 ps with the spectral bandwidth of 0.23 cm (7 GHz). We also discuss our method on theoretical grounds.