Ultrafast solid-state lasers

This article is intended to provide an introduction to ultrafast laser development for scientists new to the field and to provide a snapshot of the current state-of-the-art. In the first section, the main issues concerning ultrashort pulse generation are discussed and then the basic techniques of mode-locking are reviewed at a tutorial level. These include active mode-locking, passive mode-locking with real, resonant, saturable absorbers and passive mode-locking with the optical Ken effect. Emphasis is placed on practical ultrafast solid-state lasers for real-world applications.