Versatile seven-femtosecond pulse compressor of parametrically amplified pulses using adaptive optics: studies of the primary events in protein dynamics

High-quality, few-cycle pulses over the complete tuning range of a noncollinear parametric amplifier system and a variety of sample conditions have been readily generated using a compressor based on deformable, mirror adaptive optics. These broadband pulses are compressed to 7 fs pulse duration in a compact, glassless combination of static negatively chirped mirrors and a zero-dispersion stretcher with a deformable mirror for the manipulation of the spectral phase. These ultra-short pulses are then used to investigate with very high resolution the early-time dynamics of deoxy- and carboxymyoglobin after the photoinitiated dissociation of the carbon monoxide ligand.