UV and blue picosecond pulse generation by a nitrogen-laser-pumped distributed feedback dye laser

Tunable picosecond pulse generation in the 362–420 nm spectral range is reported. The laser is simple in construction and can be easily constructed from relatively inexpensive optical and mechanical parts.     

Modeling a distributed feedback dye laser pumped by a Nd-glass laser

A mathematical model has been developed to describe the dynamic emission of a distributed feedback dye laser (DFDL) pumped by a Nd-glass laser. The model is based on the coupled-wave theory. It allows the investigation of the temporal behavior of the Nd-glass pumping laser source and the DFDL pulses. The model allows studying the effect of the variation of the laser input parameters of the Nd-glass laser, such as maximum amplification coefficient, loss coefficient and pumping rate on the characteristics of DFDL pulses regarding the pulse width, delay time and separation time. The feedback process of the DFDL is provided either by changes of the refractive index or by optical gain or by both together. The model estimates the following: temporal behavior of the density of emitted radiation, energy densities of the first excited singlet and triplet states, DFDL output power, cavity decay time and the temperature of the produced grating. The numerical solution of the nonlinear coupled rate equation system predicts the generation of DFDL picosecond pulses. The calculated results are in good agreement with the available experimental data. The calculations were done using rhodamine 6G dissolved in ethanol as the investigated matrix.     

Two independently tunable distributed feedback dye lasers pumped by a single picosecond Nd : YAG laser

A laser system which consists of two independently tunable Distributed Feedback Dye Lasers (DFDL) pumped by 35 ps pulses at the second and third harmonics of a Nd : YAG laser is presented. The DFDLs employ a new grating-prism configuration for producing the gain grating in the laser dye solution. Thus easy switching of the pump wavelength is possible. Details of construction and characteristics of operation are reported. Examples of continuous computer controlled tuning from 400 to 750 nm are shown. The pulse durations, which are of the order of 12 ps, are discussed by comparison with experimental and theoretical data from the literature.Prof. F.P. Schäfer on the occasion of his 65th birthday.     

A novel pumping arrangement for tunable single picosecond pulse generation with a N2 laser pumped distributed feedback dye laser

A novel excitation scheme for a N₂ laser pumped distributed feedback dye laser is described. The dye laser generates 80–100 ps pulses with a time-bandwidth product better than 0.6. Several tuning methods are proposed, and a number are investigated experimentally. Continuous tuning over a 50 Å range without mode-hopping is demonstrated.     

20 ps pulse generation by an excimer laser pumped double self-Q-switched distributed feedback dye laser

The behaviour of an excimer-laser-pumped distributed feedback dye laser (ELP DFDL) using a mixture of saturable absorber and laser dye as an active medium was studied. In a DFDL self-Q-switching occurs because of the population inversion dependence of the feedback. If the DFDL contains absorber saturation of the absorption by the leading edge of the created laser pulse also causes Q-switching. As a result of this double self-Q-switching, mixing a saturable absorber into the laser dye, the laser pulses become shorter and more stable. This was demonstrated experimentally. Mixing Rhodamine B into the dye solution of a Coumarin 153 ELP DFDL, a six-fold reduction in the pulse duration and a more than two-fold reduction in the pulse energy instability were observed. The experimental results were in good qualitative agreement with the predictions of a simple rate equation model.     

A novel picosecond distributed feedback dye laser arrangement for excimer laser pumping

A distributed feedback dye laser arrangement is described which can generate pulses at the subharmonic wavelengths of the main excimer laser lines (308 nm, 248 nm, 193 nm, etc.). The laser can be pumped with broadband lasers, such as the XeCl^* laserpumped dye laser with competing cavities. The laser is designed to be used as a part of a femtosecond, terawatt excimer laser system.     

A high-power subpicosecond distributed feedback dye laser system pumped by a mode-locked Nd: YAG laser

The design and operation characteristics of a distributed feedback dye laser (DFDL) system pumped by the second harmonic of a flashlamp pumped mode-locked Nd: YAG laser are described. The DFDL oscillator facilitates a large tuning range with nearly Fourier limited pulse durations of about 1.6 ps. The combined action of saturated absorption and amplification results in a pulse shortening to about 600 fs, with small fluctuations in the pulse duration. Output pulse energies of more than 400 J are achieved, corresponding to a peak power of more than 650 MW. Since the dye amplifiers are pumped by pulses of only 25 ps duration the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) is very low, typically less than 10^–4.     

溴化亚铜激光泵浦的可调谐微微秒染料激光

本文首次报道了利用脉宽为25ns重复率为10kHz的溴化亚铜激光泵浦混有饱和吸收体DODCI的超短腔染料激光,产生出30ps光脉冲.在理论上对混入DODCI的超短腔染料激光脉冲压缩效应作了分析计算,计算结果与实验基本一致.在实验上又通过一个放大-色散系统实现对此染料激光脉冲的同步放大和调谐,并达到傅里叶变换极限.     

Spatially-hole-burned distributed feedback dye laser produced tunable single picosecond pulses

A new type of distributed feedback dye laser is described in which the Bragg grating is formed by spatial hole-burning. With a simple excimer laser pumped arrangement, single high stability 6 ps pulses were generated. The pulses were nearly transformlimited and were 33 times shorter than the rise time of the pulse which created the Bragg grating.on leave from JATE University, Department of Experimental Physics, Dóm tér 9, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary     

An oscillator-amplifier distributed feedback dye laser system,pumped by a single TEA N2 laser

In this paper we describe a simple and inexpensive Distributed Feedback Dye Laser (DFDL) system for picosecond pulse generation. This system consists of an oscillator-amplifier DFDL, either in the grating or in the prism configuration: both stages are pumped by a single TEA nitrogen laser with improved beam quality. Single pulses having duration of 26 ps are obtained at a frequency up to 100Hz; the overall pulse-to-pulse stability is, at the maximum frequency, of about 25%. This system is particularly well-suited for time-resolved fluorescence microscopy studies where short tunable laser pulses of low energy are required.     

Observation of discrete supercontinuum spectra from a multi-pulse pumped distributed feedback dye laser

A new approach to the generation of uniformly sliced supercontinuum is reported. It is based on a multi-pulse pumped distributed feedback dye laser rather than on the conventional propagation of femtosecond pulses through air or photonic molecules. Recent developments in supercontinuum generation and laser filamentation are critically reviewed to relate our findings to published work. Novelty of the proposed technique, in terms of ease of generation and economy, makes the method an attractive alternative. This work was carried out by pumping dye solution with six beams of a Q. switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser. A total energy of 421 J was used to generate a 5.5 nm wide discrete supercontinuum consisting of nine distinct coherent lines. The principle of multiple line generation may be extended to any desired spectral range depending upon the available gain medium and number of pumping pulses. Threshold power intensity for sliced supercontinuum generation using a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser for solution of R6G in ethanol is found to be less than 24×10⁸ W/cm². Successful design and operation of a coherent off-white discrete supercontinuum source is also presented. PACS 42.60.By; 42.65.Re; 42.25.Bs     

Theory of the synchronously pumped picosecond dye laser

The circulation of a synchronously mode locked dye laser pulse in a linear cavity configuration containing a dye cell as an active medium and a bandwidth-limiting element is treated. The condition that the pulse shape reproduces after each cavity round-trip provides a nonlinear integro-differential equation for the steady-state pulse shape. For the solution of this equation an approximate method, not limited to small pulse energies, is given and the pulse duration, intensity, energy, asymmetry of the pulse shape, stable regions and other interesting parameters are discussed.     

Analysis of tunable picosecond pulse generation from a distributed feedback Ti：sapphire laser

A distributed feedback Ti:sapphire laser (DFTL) pumped by a 532nm Q-switched pulse is proposed for the generation of tunable picosecond pulses. With coupled rate equation model, the temporal characteristics of DFTL are obtained. The numerical solutions show that the DFTL pulse with a 50-ps pulse duration and as much as 3.SmJ pulse energy can be obtained under 40-m J, 5-ns pulse pumping. The dependence of output pulse width on the laser crystal‘s length, pumping pulse duration, and pumping rate is also discussed in detail.     

Dual picosecond dye lasers synchronously pumped by a mode locked cw yag laser

The performance of a novel dual dye laser system synchronously pumped by the frequency doubled output of a mode-locked CW-YAG laser is evaluated in relation to pulsewidth, pulse substructure, pulse spectral width and timing jitter. The behavior of the system is adequately described by a theoretical model which includes the time dependent gain and losses due to frequency bandwidth, cavity length mismatch and output coupler. The jitter is significantly reduced from that obtained with CW gas laser pumping as a result of the shorter pump pulse (50 ns instead of ≈100 ps). A routine operating condition uses 2-plate birefringen filters, 0.8 W pump power at 532 nm, to yield two 2.0 ps pulses having a cross correlation width of 3.8 ps, and 30 mW average power from each laser.     

Tunable picosecond energy transfer distributed feedback dye laser using Rhodamine 6G and Thionine dye mixture

The characteristics of Nd:YAG laser pumped energy transfer distributed feedback dye laser (ETDFDL) is studied both theoretically and experimentally. Using theoretical model proposed the behaviour of ETDFDL for dye mixture Rhodamine 6G and Thionine is studied in detail. The characteristics of donor DFDL, the acceptor DFDL, the dependence of their pulse widths and output powers on donor–acceptor concentration and pump power are studied. The output energy of DFDL is measured experimentally at the emission peaks of donor and acceptor dyes for different pump powers and donor–acceptor concentrations. In addition, the tunability of DFDL emission is measured both in donor and acceptor emission ranges.     

Superradiant picosecond laser emission from transversely pumped dye solutions

Superradiant picosecond laser emission has been obtained from dye solutions transversely pumped with the second harmonic of a mode-locked ruby laser. This provides a convinient scheme for obtaining ultrashot dye laser pulses in the visible range of the spectrum.     

超短脉冲分布反馈染料激光器稳定工作条件分析

 利用耦合波理论,分析了一种作为KrF准分子激光MOPA系统的振荡源-亚皮秒超短脉冲分布反馈染料激光器（DFDL）的输出模式,指出实际的分布反馈染料激光器工作在单纵模状态是周期性增益调制的必然结果。数值模拟结果表明,DFDL输出光谱出现多条谱线的精细结构或调制现象,这是由多个顺序相干脉冲产生的。可以利用这种光谱调制现象来控制激光器的泵浦强度,获得稳定的单脉冲。光谱测量结果表明,在2倍泵浦阈值左右DFDL能够获得稳定的单模单脉冲输出。     

超短脉冲分布反馈染料激光器稳定工作条件分析

利用耦合波理论,分析了一种作为KrF准分子激光MOPA系统的振荡源-亚皮秒超短脉冲分布反馈染料激光器（DFDL）的输出模式,指出实际的分布反馈染料激光器工作在单纵模状态是周期性增益调制的必然结果。数值模拟结果表明,DFDL输出光谱出现多条谱线的精细结构或调制现象,这是由多个顺序相干脉冲产生的。可以利用这种光谱调制现象来控制激光器的泵浦强度,获得稳定的单脉冲。光谱测量结果表明,在2倍泵浦阈值左右DFDL能够获得稳定的单模单脉冲输出。     

Coherent spectroscopy with a distributed feedback dye laser

A simple and flexible distributed feedback dye laser source pumped by the harmonic of a mode-locked YAG laser is described. Measurements of dephasing times of isotopic and hot bands in CS₂ liquid exploiting both the frequency and time-resolution of this source are reported.     

Transverse spatial coherence of a transient nickellike silver soft-x-ray laser pumped by a single picosecond laser pulse

The degree of spatial coherence in the direction perpendicular to the target surface is reported for a transient nickellike silver x-ray laser at 13.9 nm. An x-ray laser plasma column was produced by irradiating a slab silver target with a single shaped picosecond laser pulse with energy less than 3 J. Young's double-slit method was applied to measure the fringe visibility as a function of the slit separation for different target lengths. The diameter of the equivalent incoherent source and the coherence radius of the output radiation were determined as well.