4. Laser sources developed for MMP

4.1 Common MMP lasers

The laser sources used in today's commercial MMP systems are almost all of the same type: a Ti:Sa pulsed laser. As previously mentioned, this system delivers laser pulses with parameters that are perfectly suited to MMP: spectral range in the near infrared, femtosecond pulse duration and repetition rate close to 100 MHz. The value of 80 × 10 ³ will serve as a reference for the following section. The market for these MMP sources is dominated by two vendors: Coherent and Spectra Physics (this source costs around €100k). For imaging modalities such as third harmonic generation, an IR source emitting laser pulses between 1,000 and 1,500 nm is required. In this case, a system based on Ti:Sa-powered oscillator or optical...