Laser dye stability

A figure-of-merit (FOM) consisting of the initial laser slope efficiency times the dye lifetime constant is used to compare the effect of a Pyrex light filter and the cover gas upon the output characteristics of six laser dye solutions. The FOM is found to improve using the Pyrex filter from 2-fold (coumarin 102 under air) up to 3800-fold (rhodamine 6 G under argon). In most cases, the use of argon in place of air for a coumarin dye not only improves the laser output, but also increases the lifetime constant. However, two of the coumarin dyes had an increase in lifetime under air as compared to under argon. This difference is explained in terms of the relative energy levels of the singlet and triplet states of these dyes. In order to measure long-lived dye solutions, a separate output-monitored linear flashlamp was used to degrade the solutions. The dye lifetime constants were corrected for changes in the output of this linear flashlamp. The relative output of this dye degradation flashlamp was found to depend upon the wavelength of the measurement and the position of the sensor along the length of the lamp. The variation in the output of several flashlamps is shown for lamps operating up to a total of 30 million flashes. The lifetime constants of the dye LD-490 measured by using the coaxial laser flashlamp was found to be comparable with, but lower than, the constants obtained from using the linear dye-degradation flashlamp.     

Efficient amplification of sub-picosecond pulses of a non-CW dye laser

Efficient amplification in a dye laser amplifier is investigated theoretically and experimentally. A five-level rate equation approach is considered including rotational relaxation of the dye molecules. The effects of the pump pulse duration and of the parameters of the input pulse are discussed. The results are compared with experimental data for 0.5 ps pulses of a pulsed dye laser. Conversion efficiencies >10% are achieved for a single pass amplifier using Nd:YAG pump pulses of 2 ns while an effective fluorescence lifetime of 1.7±0.2 ns is determined for the gain medium rhodamine 6G. The triple pass amplifier stage of the laser system achieves an energy conversion of 4% with 40 J output pulses.     

Optimization of dye-laser output coupling by consideration of the spatial gain distribution

The problem of output-coupling optimization of a transversely or longitudinally pumped dye laser is treated in terms of a rate equation approach under steady state considerations. The theoretical study considers the spatial variation of the gain distribution and such typical features of a dye laser as reabsorption, triplet effects and excited state absorption. Numerical results obtained with realistic values of typical laser parameters (cross-sections for stimulated emission and reabsorption, number density of active molecules etc.) indicate that a higher degree of output coupling and consequently higher output powers are feasible upon a complete consideration of the spatial gain distribution     

Laser dye stability part 1. Flash frequency and fluid filtration effects

A commercial coaxial xenon flashlamp was used to measure laser dye stability. The output energy of each lasing pulse was recorded and periodic measurements were made of the untuned lasing wavelength, the temporal flashlamp output, and the temporal lasing output. The present study demonstrates that it is possible to have a number of different types of apparent dye laser system “half-lifes” through the use of filtration and frequency of flash parameters. The use of near-zero flash frequency and moderate pore size filters allows a determination of the lifetime that is more representative of the dye as opposed to the lifetime of the dye laser system.     

Medium performance effect on the high output energy from a xenon lamp-pumped pyrromethene-567 solid-state dye laser

In order to obtain a high output energy from a xenon lamp-pumped solid-state dye laser, homogeneities of laser mediums and flatnesses of medium faces with different processing treatments are discussed in the paper. The medi- ums without aging treatment, which are prepared by using a prepolymer process and have diamond-machined end faces to produce the required optical finish, give a highest laser output of 281.9 mJ with 0.215% slope efficiency at 2.0×10 4 mol/L. The best medium lifetime is 21 shots to 50% of original output equating 74.6 kJ/liter.     

紫外新激光染料IBOP的研究

本文介绍一种新合成的化合物IBOP.经在多种染料激光器上测试表明,其激光转换效率高,光化学稳定性好,能溶于多种溶剂.性能优于DPS等相同波段的常用激光染料.IBOP在各种溶剂中的激光调谐范围为388～428nm,激光峰值波长在400nm左右.本文给出了IBOP的荧光光谱、吸收光谱、激光特性、溶剂效应和浓度效应等数据,并作了讨论.     

Characterizing laser dye performance

Several measures of laser performance are investigated for a generic dye laser operating under conditions where the input energy is limited by a maximum value and the output is required to be above some minimum value. Dimensionless expressions are developed that show the interrelationships between the efficiency, the number of laser pulses for a unit volume of dye solution, and the total laser output per volume of dye solution. For one of the performance measures, the total laser output per unit volume of dye solution, the initial slope efficiency divided by a parameter characteristic of the degradation process,k ₀/c, is identified as a reasonable figure of merit. It is readily evaluated from experimental degradation data and has reasonably simple properties relative to transfer between laser systems.     

Diagnostics of a Compact Discharge-Pumped XeCl Laser with BCl3 Halogen Donor

The results of a comprehensive study of a compact UV-preionized XeCl laser are presented. The subjects of this study were: discharge voltage and current measurements, dye laser probing of the active medium, and the mass spectrometry of gas mixture degradation products. It is shown that the gas lifetime was significantly improved when the laser was operated with BCl₃ as a halogen donor instead of commonly used HCl. By the dye laser absorption and gain probing, the temporal and spatial dependences of the densities for several plasma components, Ne*, Xe*, Xe⁺*, Cl^–, XeCl* and of ground state boron atoms were measured. Some aspects of plasma kinetics for uniform and constricted phases of the discharge are discussed. By the mass spectrometry of gas mixture degradation products on long-term operation of the laser device several gaseous (N₂, O₂, CO₂, H₂O, C₂H₄) and solid (NiCl₂, H₃BO₃) products were detected in the laser chamber. NH₄Cl was determined to be a stable fraction of the deposits on optics surfaces. The reasons for the improvement of gas lifetime for BCl₃-containing gas mixtures are discussed.     

A large coaxial lidar for elastic and inelastic scattering studies of the stratosphere

A very powerful, fixed zenith laser radar system, based upon a liquid dye laser, is described in detail. The laser is a linear flashlamp pumped dye system capable of an average power output of 6W at a prf of 3 s^–1 using rhodamine 6G dye and about 3W with the same prf using esculin monohydrate dye. The use of this laser as a transmitting source in the lidar system has permitted the detection of Stokes shifted vibration/rotation Raman back-scattered light from neutral nitrogen in the stratosphere and from these measurements, stratospheric temperature profiles have been derived. The lidar has also been used to study elastic backscattering from the stratosphere at two wavelengths and preliminary results of a new technique for studying stratospheric aerosol are presented.     

Transient behaviour of pulsed dye lasers

Some aspects of the transient behaviour of pulsed dye lasers are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Relaxation oscillations induced in the output from a dye cell by an external reflector have been observed and explained, using a rate equation approximation to the physical situation in the dye cell. These oscillations are shown to play an important part in the generation of short laser pulses from long cavity dye lasers. Finally, it is proposed that 10 ps pulses can be obtained from conventional dye lasers pumped by 100 ps pulses from a high-pressure nitrogen laser.     

Time evolution of synchronously pumped dye laser pulses: Picosecond pulse formation studies

The pulse-by-pulse evolution and compression of the output of a synchronously pumped dye laser as a function of the number of pump pulses was investigated with a high resolution, variably triggered streak camera. The measured pulse durations and energies for the pulse compression process are demonstrated to be in disagreement with the predictions of recent classical rate equation models. This is shown not to be due to the complete breakdown of the model but, rather, is caused by the failure to include two key loss terms in the rate equation treatment, namely, excited state absorption and thermal lensing. In addition, a highly durable dye laser compatible with the 100 MHz output of commercially available QS and ML YAG lasers is presented which is capable of 50 μJ, 20–30 ps transform limited pulses without the need of amplification. Further refinements of this laser system are discussed, based on the experimental work reported, which will lead to tunable ～ 100 fs pulses with energies in the μJ range from a single laser pump source.     

Tunable UV-radiation by stimulated Raman scattering in hydrogen

We observed tunable UV radiation down to 175 nm by SRS of the output of a frequency-doubled dye laser in H₂. The high power output of the 4th anti-Stokes to 5th Stokes line generated by the frequency doubled dye laser and the 8th anti-Stokes to 3rd Stokes line generated by the undoubled dye laser represents a broadly tunable coherent radiation source between 189 nm and 2064 nm.     

Polarization and power characteristics of pulsed dye lasers with transverse pumping

Starting from the classical theory on molecular luminescence in liquids, rate equation for two-polarization-mode laser oscillation under transverse pumping with intense excitation have been set forth neglecting the influence of orientational relaxation of the dye molecules. Hence, the laser output power and polarization under different configurations have been obtained. The results show that the dye laser is partially polarized even when the pump beam is unpolarized and no polarizing elements exist in the cavity. If we define a reference plane consisting of the axes of the pump beam and the dye laser, the laser system has to adopt the plane perpendicular to the reference plane as the polarization direction in order to yield a highly efficient, linearly polarized laser output. Experiments on a copper-vapor laser pumped dye laser verified these analytical results.     

Intracavity Frequency Doubling of a New Low－threshold High－efficiency Crystal Nd：Sr_5（VO_4）_3F

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10 ps High Power Laser System at 248 nm

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同步泵浦飞秒激光锁模理论研究

考虑到饱和增益、饱和吸收、群速弥散和自相位调制等效应对光脉冲的作用,我们给出了一个适用于飞秒脉冲激光系统的锁模方程。并且用这个方程初步地研究了同步泵浦被动锁模的染料激光器。结果表明,染料光脉冲的输出特性将极大地取决于腔内色散、S参数、饱和吸收体的浓度、腔长失谐量等因素。     

10 ps High Power Laser System at 248 nm

A simple 10 ps KrF laser system consisting of quenched dye laser oscillator pumped by a XeCl laser, a distributed feedback dye laser (DFDL), a three-stage dye amplifier and a two-stage KrF amplifier are described. The output of the laser system is 140 mJ with 10 ps pulse width by using polarization-multiplexing amplification. A focused output laser intensity of about 4×1015 W/cm2 is obtained. The saturation fluence for KrF laser is obtained with this laser.     

Numerical calculations of intracavity dye Q-switched ruby laser

A mathematical model describing the dynamic emission of the Q-switched ruby laser has been adapted. The suggested model allows the investigation of the effects of a dye cell on the mode characteristics of the ruby laser and, moreover, the study of the effect of the laser input parameters on the output laser pulse. This model simulates the nonlinear effects of dye pulse modulation on the laser emission.In addition, a numerical solution of a nonlinear rate equation system of the adapted model is discussed. The solution estimates the density of the emitted radiation, population inversion and energy transfer processes of the ruby laser rod and dye cell for different emission regimes (one pulse regime, free running pulses, repetition periodic pulses). The estimated results of the laser output pulse characteristics are in a good agreement with the other calculated and experimental results.     

Determination of the lifetime of the mercury 63P1 state

A pulsed tunable dye laser was used for a high resolution experimental study of mercury fluorescence from the 6³P₁ state. The output of the dye laser was frequency doubled into the 253.7 nm region using a potassium penta-borate crystal. Exponential decays were observed for each of the five individual components of the hyperfine structure separately and the effects of the trapping of resonance radiation on the observed lifetime of the 6³P₁ state of mercury were investigated for each resolvable component. Within experimental error, the natural radiative lifetime of the 6³P₁ state was found to be independent of the hyperfine component irradiated and a value of 122±2 nsec was obtained, consistent with results found by other methods.     

Laser range finder using Gaussian beam range equation

A new range equation for laser range finder using Gaussian beam profile is proposed. Unlike conventional range equations, the proposed equation can be applied to any ranging conditions, regardless of a beam size of incident light upon targets. We also show an operational coefficient for estimating the returned power using the proposed Gaussian beam range equation as an empirical correction factor.