Picosecond pulses produced by synchronously pumped cavity dumped pyridine 1 dye laser

Nearly transform limited picosecond pulses have been produced with a synchronously pumped cavity dumped dye laser using pyridine 1 laser dye. The observed tuning range of 678 to 790 nm extends the usefulness of cavity dumped systems pumped by mode locked argon ion lasers. Pulse autocorrelation widths as short as 3.85 ps were observed. The effects of the variation of bandwidth and net gain on autocorrelation shape and width are presented. Observed autocorrelation traces are compared to transform limited autocorrelation traces calculated from the corresponding power spectra.