Patent ID: 8154793

Claim:
A method for generating high power ultrashort-pulses using a chirped pulse fiber amplifier, comprising the steps of: chirping an input pulse to be amplified by passing said pulse through a pulse stretcher, thereby creating a chirped pulse that is broadened in time; modifying said chirped pulse by increasing the power of said pulse with a fiber amplifier to induce an amount of nonlinear phase shift in said pulse which substantiality changes a shape of a power spectrum of said pulse and is sufficient to broaden the power spectrum of said pulse beyond a gain bandwidth of the fiber amplifier; and dechirping said pulse by passing said pulse through a pulse compressor to generate a narrowed output pulse having a duration below a gain narrowing limit of said fiber amplifier, wherein said pulse stretcher and said pulse compressor have mismatched dispersion characteristics that combine to induce an amount of third order dispersion in said pulse that is sufficient to compensate for the amount of nonlinear phase shift induced in said pulse by said fiber amplifier.