Pulse properties of a synchronously mode-locked,cavity dumped,picosecond dye laser system

A synchronously mode-locked, cavity-dumped picosecond dye laser is described. The structure and intensity of the picosecond pulses measured under different conditions are reported. It was found that the structure of the pulses from the synchronously pumped dye laser depends critically on the length of the Ar⁺ laser pulses. At the shortest Ar⁺ laser pulses of about 70 ps the dye pulses are as short as 1.1 ps. With Ar⁺ laser pulses of 200 ps the dye laser pulses contains a broad satellite pulse which contains a large fraction of the total intensity. When a cavity dumper is added to the system one gets dye laser pulses 15–20 ps long with a substructure, which indicates incomplete mode-locking. Well mode-locked 1.5–2.0 ps pulses were obtained in the red part of the dye laser action spectrum, i.e. 620–650 nm for R6G, 595–608 nm for R 110 and 657–662 nm for RB, respectively. Addition of mode-locking dyes also improved the pulse quality at some wavelengths.     

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.     

Generation,stabilization, and amplification of subpicosecond pulses

A sync-pumped cw dye laser system has been used to produce subpicosecond pulses. Pulses as short as 0.7 ps, assuming a single-sided exponential pulse shape, were observed. A set of experiments was performed to investigate the origin and effects of noise in the sync-pumped system. A digital and an analog feedback loop have been designed to optimize the pulse width. The noise has been lowered by 10 dB for frequencies up to 10 kHz; long-term drift is also controlled by this method. A four-stage dye laser amplifier, pumped by a Nd:YAG laser which operates at a 10-Hz repetition rate, is synchronized electronically to the dye-laser picosecond pulses. A gain of 3×10⁶ has been achieved.This work was supported by the Joint Services Electronics Program     

Simple picosecond dye laser system pumped by a frequency doubled,optically compressed Q-switched mode-locked Nd:YAG laser

Using the frequency doubled output of the 3 ps pulses from a temporally compressed cw Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser, a simple synchronously pumped dye laser was constructed to give frequency tunable operation with short pulses in the 5–10 ps range and peak powers of ～ 15 kW. A circularly scanning streak camera operating in stroboscopic mode was also used to examine pulse formation in the dye laser.     

Near-infrared subpicosecond pulse generation in a synchronously mode-locked cw dye laser

Tunable subpicosecond pulses have been obtained from a synchronously mode-locked Oxazine-1 dye laser by tandem pumping with output pulses of a mode-locked Rhodamine 6G dye laser. The effects of cavity detuning on the pulse-width and the second harmonic power (the peak intensity of the autocorrelation trace) have been investigated. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with those predicted by a recent model analysis.     

Generation and amplification of sub-picosecond pulses using a frequency-doubled neodymium YAG pumping source

Stable, tunable, sub-picosecond pulses have been obtained by synchronously pumping a Rhodamine 6G dye laser with a frequency-doubled CW modelocked neodymium YAG laser. Careful attention has been paid to minimize amplitude and timing instabilities, resulting in dye laser pulses shorter than 500 fs. The main advantage of this new pumping source over current synchronously pumped dye lasers is that it is particularly well suited to short pulse amplification. Using this technique amplification of 2 × 10⁶ has been achieved.     

非等强度,等脉冲相关技术测量甲酚紫染料的吸收恢复时间

利用非等强度、等脉冲相关技术测量甲酚紫染料吸收恢复时间。实验结果给出了甲酚紫染料吸收恢复时间为158ps。     

Undamped relaxation oscillations due to self-gain-switching of laser dye mixtures

Undamped relaxation oscillations were observed from a short, simple dye laser using a laser dye mixture which was pumped at 337 nm using ns pulses. The dye solution contained Rh101 as first laser dye, together with DTDCI in double function as saturable absorber and second laser dye. Two trains of intense laser pulses were generated near 619 and 685 nm, with pulse durations of ca. 4 and 2 times the resonator transit time, respectively. This method of short-pulse generation is related to double mode-locking of dye lasers. Model calculations are used to describe the pulse generation by self-gain-switching, and to estimate radiative and nonradiative contributions towards saturation of the absorber dye.     

Generation of tunable subnanosecond laser pulses with a nitrogen laser pumped dye laser amplifier system

A simple method for generating single tunable subnanosecond dye laser pulses is described. A Rhodamin 6G dye laser is transversely pumped by a subnanosecond UV pulse of a TEA nitrogen laser. The narrowband output of the dye laser is amplified and shortened in a synchronously pumped amplifier. Narrowband pulses with a duration of 30–40 ps (fwhm) and a pulse power of 30 kW are obtained. They are tunable over the range of 580–600 nm.     

Tunable picosecond pulses from a short-cavity dye laser under ultra-high pressure using diamond-anvil cell

It is demonstrated that broadly tunable picosecond pulses are generated from a dye laser of very short cavity utilizing a diamond-anvil cell, which operates at pressures up to 10 GPa. The pulses as short as 5 ps are obtained from the rhodamine 6G dye laser pumped by a frequency-doubled Q-switched Nd: YAG laser. The way of tuning is based on the pressure induced shift of the emission peak of the dye. The laser is tunable over 20 nm by changing the pressure of the cell within 4 GPa.     

Variable length transform-limited pulses from a stabilized synchronously-pumped mode-locked laser

We have investigated the stabilization of a synchronously-pumped mode-locked dye laser by self feedback. The output consists of transform-limited pulses whose shape and duration depend on the tuning of the main laser cavity. Measurements of the limiting of the feedback with respect to the main cavity indicate that the optimum timing depends on the length of the pumping pulses rather than that of the output pulses.     

Self phase modulation in a femtosecond pulse amplifier with subsequent compression

The pulses from a colliding-pulse mode-locked dye laser (100 fs, 20 pJ) are amplified to 0.2 mJ and self phase modulated in an excimer laser pumped dye amplifier. Suitable chirp compensation leads to nearly bandwidth-limited pulses of about 50 fs duration.     

Two photon resonant third harmonic generation in calcium vapour

We have generated ultraviolet picosecond pulses by frequency tripling a mode locked dye laser in calcium vapour. Saturation of third harmonic generation is observed when the dye laser is turned to a two photon resonance. Peak powers of 100 kW, tunable around 200 nm are achieved at fundamental powers of 250 MW.     

Generation of tunable picosecond pulses in the medium infrared by down-conversion in AgGaS2

Picosecond pulses from a mode-locked Nd:YAG laser and a traveling-wave dye laser are mixed in an AgGaS₂ crystal to generate pulses at the difference frequency. The dye laser is tunable between 1200 nm and 1460 nm resulting in a tuning range of the parametric pulses from 3.9 μm to 9.4 μm. The spectral bandwidth is quite narrow. A value of Δ?=6.5 cm^-1 was measured which is constant over the whole tuning range. Several percent of the Nd:YAG laser photons are converted to infrared photons. Pump pulses of 21 ps give parametric pulses of 8 ps.     

Near infrared,tunable, oxazine 750 perchlorate,synchronously-pumped picosecond ring dye laser

We report the operation and performance of a near-infrared, synchronously-pumped mode locked dye laser, pumped with the 647.1 nm line of a mode locked krypton ion laser. The output pulses are as short as 3.2 ps in duration, and can be tuned from 750 to 910 nm with an intercavity three plate birefringent filter.     

A long-pulse xenon ion laser as a pumping source for dye lasers

A simple xenon ion laser that is either sealed or has a gas flow mode is described. The laser delivered long pulses ( 15 μs) of almost 1 kW peak power. It has been used to pump a dye laser employing the same configuration as cw dye lasers. The system is inexpensive and can be mode-locked, enabling it to yield ultrashort pulses comparable in duration to those delivered by cw argon laser-pumped dye lasers but with much higher peak powers.     

Picosecond and subpicosecon pulse generation in synchronously pumped mode-locked cw dye lasers

Generation of tunable near-infrared picosecond and subpicosecond pulses in a synchronously pumped cw mode-locked Oxazine-1-perchlorate dye laser has been investigated for different values of the important system parameters. The experimental results confirm the predictions of a simple theoretical model which describes the steady-state pulse duration in terms of gain modulation strength, pump power, intracavity bandwidth, pump pulse length and cavity detuning. For a pump-pulse length of 100 ps and a bandwidth of more than 500 Å for the intracavity tuning element dye-laser pulses as short as 0.35 ps have been obtained. Under these conditions up to 100 mW of average output power were provided. In addition, mode-locking of an Oxazine 750 dye laser by synchronous pumping with the cw train of pulses obtained from the Oxazine-1-Perchlorate laser is reported.     

Tunable sub-100 femtosecond dye-laser pulses generated with a nanosecond pulsed pumping

Subpicosecond pulses at a fixed wavelength produced with a low-Q cavity dye laser pumped by a single, nanosecond laser (Q-switched Nd:YAG) are converted into tunable high-power sub-100 femtosecond pulses by generation, spectral selection, amplification and compression of a supercontinuum. The tunable, chirped, high-energy pulses obtained are compressed with a prism pair. Energies up to 50 J in sub-100 fs pulses were obtained in the 540 to 650 nm range using 40 mJ of the Nd: YAG-laser pumping pulses at 532 nm. The whole sub-100 fs system including the low-Q dye laser uses only one Nd:YAG laser as a pump source.     

Bandwidth limited amplification of 220 fs pulses in XeCl

Transform limited pulses of 200–250 fs duration at 308 ns generated by a specially designed excimer laser pumped dye laser system have been amplified in a XeCl gain module. Simultaneous study of the spectrum and the temporal behaviour of the amplified UV pulses showed bandwidth limitation by the gain spectrum of XeCl. This effect is strongly dependent on the operational condition of the amplifier; in a single pass amplification scheme 0.5 mJ, 250 fs pulses, in a double pass arrangement 5 mJ, 220 fs pulses were obtained, with excellent reproducibility.     

Pulse structure studies and absolute cavity length determination for a synchronously pumped picosecond dye laser

Second harmonic cross correlation functions of a pulse with its near neighbor have been studied in a synchronously pumped cw dye laser. Measurements were made both as a function of dye laser cavity length mismatch and the number of cavity round trips separating the correlated pulses. The pulse envelope is found to have a characteristic interpulse frequency determined by the pump laser, whereas the pulse substructure has a characteristic frequency determined by the dye laser cavity length. The cross correlation measurements allow experimental determination of the dye laser length corresponding to exact synchrony. In contrast to theoretical predictions the length of exact synchrony corresponds to optimum pulse shape and duration. Our results are discussed in terms of a simple model which leads to pulse duration estimates as much as twice those obtained by conventional analysis of autocorrelation traces.