Abstract
Traveling-wave amplified spontaneous emission (TWASE) on the femtosecond time scale is reported. By pumping different dyes with 80-fsec pulses with an energy of 4 μJ, we obtain TWASE pulses at several wavelengths between 650 and 800 nm. After compression by a grating pair the TWASE pulses are almost transform limited and shorter than the pump pulses. The temporal jitter between the pump and TWASE pulses is smaller than the pump-pulse duration.