few-cycle compression based on a dispersion-engineered folded mpc

The cell length of the folded MPC is halved compared to a standard configuration by folding the beam path via multiple reflections on additional plane mirrors.

Meanwhile, the precise dispersion management is achieved by strategically replacing one of the plane folding mirrors with a standard chirped mirror. The stable pulse propagation and self-phase-modulation (SPM)-dominated spectral broadening are maintained during the nonlinear process in the MPC, overcoming the spectral broadening saturation. This novel MPC configuration can not only support few-cycle pulse compression without dispersion-tailored coatings but also significantly reduce the setup footprint, providing a compact, cost-effective, and flexible solution for efficient nonlinear pulse compression to the few-cycle regime.