Ultrashort-pulse lasers and their applications

A revolution has occurred over the past ten years in our ability to generate, manipulate, and amplify ultrashort pulses. Laser pulses can be as short as a few femtoseconds (few optical cycles) and possess extreme power up to several terawatts. The applications of these pulses are numerous in physics, chemistry, and biology, where they can be used to time resolve ultrafast events. We review in this article the state of the art in short pulse generation and amplification. (author)