Chirped mirrors with low dispersion ripple.

We demonstrate a chirped dielectric multilayer mirror (CM) with controlled reflectivity and dispersion in the wavelength range 760-840 nm. It exhibits a reflectivity of >99.9% and a mean group delay dispersion (GDD) of about -30 fs(2) with a theoretical GDD ripple of less than 0.5 fs(2) in the working spectral range. Deviations of the measured GDD from the calculated one are restricted to less than +/- 3 fs(2), limited by our measurement system. Simulations reveal that a dispersive delay line composed of 120 bounces off these mirrors introduces negligible distortion to a femtosecond pulse and largely preserves its contrast. The mirrors constitute an ideal tool for precision intracavity or extracavity dispersion control in the range of several thousand fs(2), particularly if pulses with high contrast are to be generated.