Dispersion compensation by microstructured optical devices in ultrafast optics

Dispersion compensation is a ubiquitous problem for the generation and application of ultrashort optical pulses. Early approaches to compensate for the spectral group-delay dependence in materials used prism and grating sequences for this purpose, but are limited in bandwidth. Microstructuring dielectric optical materials on the scale of the optical wavelength have developed as an alternative for inducing a desired spectral group-delay dependence. With this approach a nearly arbitrary dependence of group delay vs. wavelength can be compensated for. We will discuss different approaches to microstructured dispersion compensation, namely chirped Bragg gratings, different generations of chirped mirrors, quasi-phase-matching gratings, and arrayed-waveguide gratings. We will outline common limitations and discuss ideas to expand further the utility of these approaches.