Higher-order phase dispersion in femtosecond Kerr-lens mode-locked solid-state lasers: sideband generation and pulse splitting.

The influence of higher-order phase dispersion on the pulse generation in femtosecond Kerr-lens mode-locked lasers for small net group-velocity dispersion is numerically analyzed. Depending on the third- and the fourth-order dispersion, we obtain the formation of spectral sidebands phase matched with the principal spectrum. At a relatively large amount of fourth-order dispersion pulse splitting arises, which leads to a quasi-steady-state multipulse operation regime of the Kerr-lens mode-locked laser.