Patent ID: 8654799

Claim:
Laser apparatus, comprising: a laser resonator including a fiber gain-medium having a gain-bandwidth, said resonator including a plane end mirror; a pump-radiation source arranged to energize the gain-fiber for generating laser-radiation in the laser-resonator; a mode-locking element located in the resonator for causing the laser-radiation to be generated as mode-locked pulses, the mode-locked pulses undergoing dispersion while propagating through the gain-fiber; and a wavelength-selective dispersion compensating device for compensating the dispersion undergone by the mode-locked pulses, said dispersion compensating device including a single diffraction grating located within the resonator near the plane end mirror and a first lens located between the grating and the plane end mirror, and a second lens located between an end of the gain-fiber and the grating, and with the spacing and angular orientation of the grating, lenses and plane end mirror being fixed during operation and providing dispersion compensation and wavelength selection, said wavelength selection resulting at least in part because less than all the wavelengths present in the laser radiation when the gain-fiber is initially energized are delivered from said wavelength-selective dispersion compensating device back into the gain-fiber.