A novel single-cycle optical source in the mid-infrared

In this thesis, I demonstrate the generation of single-optical-cycle pulses in the mid-infrared, which are generated using adiabatic difference frequency in an aperiodically polled lithium niobate crystal. The input pulses were generated in amplified Ti:Sapphire laser system, the construction of which is covered in detail, along with complete characterization of the generated pulses. The generated pulses have a bandwidth spanning (1.8-4.5$\mu$m), energy in excess of 1$\mu$J at a 1kHz repetition rate, and are compressed to within 15% of their Fourier transform limited duration of 10fs, which is 1.1 optical cycles at their central wavelength of 2.6$\mu$m, and represents a peak power well in excess of 100MW. Furthermore, intrinsic to the design of the system is the ability to shape both the spectral amplitude and phase of the generated pulses, which makes this source immediately suitable for applications requiring shaped pulses.