Adaptive pulse compression by two-photon absorption in semiconductors

We investigate the adaptive optimization of broadband laser pulses, using a closed-loop learning algorithm in which the merit function is derived from two-photon absorption in semiconductors. Photoluminescence experiments with US thin films and photocurrent measurements of a GaAsP photodiode have been performed. The experimental data demonstrate that reliable and accurate pulse compression to the bandwidth limit can be achieved, unperturbed by nontrivial phase effects. Therefore two-photon absorption proves to be an easy-to-implement alternative to second-harmonic generation for the compression of broadband laser pulses. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.