Amplified spontaneous emission from nitrogen laser pumped dye lasers

The nitrogen laser pumped dye laser output has been studied with emphasis on the behaviour of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with respect to the tuning wavelength, pump energy, dyes and their concentration and solvents. Spectral spread of ASE is narrower than fluorescence and its maximum is shifted towards the red side. However, lasing occurs beyond the ASE region. ASE is small at high gain wavelength and increases at the edges of the gain curve. Laser energy is highest at the ASE peak with minimum ASE present in the output. ASE is reduced with increased laser energy in the energy transfer dye lasers.     

Phase conjugation in the gain saturation of a flashlamp pumped dye laser

Tunable phase conjugation in the gain saturation of a fashlamp pumped dye laser has been demonstrated. The phase conjugation obtained has been tuned from 590 nm to 610 nm.     

Theory of synchronously pumped dye lasers

An analysis of cw synchronously pumped dye lasers is presented. Under the assumption that the cavity (tuning element) bandwidth is much wider than the bandwidth of the transform limited pulses generated, the pulse forming dynamics is rigorously treated. It is shown that for a finite mismatch between the lengths of the dye and the pump lasers, a steady-state pulse develops in the dye laser cavity with a conserved pulseshape. The characteristics (energy, shape, peak power, duration) of these pulses of ultimate width are quantitatively determined as a function of cavity mismatch. An analytical solution for the pulse envelope is determined, which yieldsI(t)∝Sech²(t/t _p ) to a good approximation.     

Phase-modulation effects in synchronously pumped dye lasers

We report the numerical calculation of pulse generation in SPDL including phase-modulation effects due to gain saturation. The steady-state pulses are strongly down-chirped at the leading edge if the laser frequency is detuned from the line centre of the amplifying dye. The pulse duration is found to be almost independent of wavelength detuning.     

Threshold singularities of optically pumped dye lasers

A complete theoretical model for optically pumped dye lasers is studied using the rate equation approach which includes excited singlet and triplet state absorption effects. Closed-form solutions under steady-state conditions reveal a novel nonlinear threshold phenomenon: partial reabsorption of the excited laser light can lead to a discontinuous onset of laser oscillation above laser threshold. Theoretical and experimental results for a transversely and longitudinally pumped rhodamine 6G laser are presented in terms of softmode and hardmode behavior at threshold.     

Energy transfer in flashlamp pumped organic dye lasers

The pumping characteristics of dye lasers using multiple dyes are discussed. It turns out that varying the dye concentration may change considerably the portion of the pump light spectrum which is effective in creating population inversion. Thus the effect of an energy transfer dye depends strongly on the concentration of the lasing dye. Multiple dye systems are shown to have larger tuning ranges than single dye systems, and should exhibit improved tuned linewidth as well as better dye stability. Experimental results are presented for a common dye combination (Rhodamine 6G and Coumarin 6). Measurements were made both by directly mixing the auxiliary dye with the lasing dye, and also by using the auxiliary dye as a fluorescent spectral filter placed between the pump light source and the laser cell; the results are compared.     

Unidirectional Doppler-free gain and generation in optically pumped lasers

The feasibility of obtaining anisotropic Doppler-free gain and unidirectional generation in optically pumped lasers is studied. The Doppler broadening is compensated due to a pump-induced velocity-dependent light shift of an atomic transition. The gain and spectral characteristics are investigated.     

Pulse formation in synchronously pumped infrared dye lasers

Pulse formation in synchronously pumped dye lasers with fast relaxing dyes is treated by computer simulation. The influence of spontaneous emission and chirp, as well as cavity mismatch, on the pulse characteristics and stability of generation are discussed.     

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.     

Comparative laser performances of pyrromethene 567 and rhodamine 6G dyes in copper vapour laser pumped dye lasers

Narrowband laser performances and photochemical stability of alcoholic solutions of pyrromethene 567 and rhodamine 6G dyes, under high-repetition rate copper vapour laser (at 510 nm), as well as, high-peak intensity Nd:YAG laser (at 532 nm) excitation have been investigated. We have observed that pyrromethene 567 dye solutions offer higher efficiency, wider tuning range, but lower photochemical stability and higher lasing threshold than that of rhodamine 6G dye solutions. An addition of about 100 mM DABCO, as a singlet oxygen quencher, in pyrromethene 567 dye solutions improved its photochemical stability close to that of rhodamine 6G. The observation of higher slope efficiency, in spite of higher threshold pump energy for pyrromethene 567 dye than that of rhodamine 6G dye solutions, was explained by a predictive model on gain characteristics of both dye solutions as a function of pump energy. PACS 42.55.Mv; 42.55.Rz; 42.70.Hj; 42.70.Jk     

Superradiant guided modes in flashlamp pumped capillary dye lasers

Superradiant self-guiding emission from capillary dye lasers is reported. Capillary cells with very small inner diameter (50–200 μm) and standard large bore (2–6 mm) flashlamps have been used. The heat released by the pumping pulse to the active medium (Rhodamine 6G in ethanol) produces a lens-like distribution of the refractive index, which in turn gives rise to low-loss guided propagation in the cell. Near-field and far-field patterns turn out to be almost uniform at low dye concentration and become markedly ring-shaped at high dye concentration, denoting the presence of ‘whispering gallery’ modes. A theoretical analysis of the mode propagation in lens-like active media is carried out, and the field intensity distribution of Gaussian modes are evaluated for some cases of interest. The mode selection mechanism which determines the excitation of the modes is discussed.     

Analysis of pulse parameters in synchronously pumped infrared dye lasers

Equations describing steady-state pulses circulating in synchronously pumped dye lasers with dyes of arbitrary fluorescence lifetime are derived and solved by numerical methods. Special attention is devoted to infrared emitting dyes characterized by short fluorescence lifetimes in the order of 10 ps. The results are compared with the case of slow dyes typically used in the visible spectral region.     

The transient regime of synchronously pumped picosecond dye lasers

Using a four-level model of the active medium, ultrashort pulse generation in the synchronously-pumped dye laser is investigated theoretically. Particular attention is paid to the transient regime in which the pump pulse train is relatively short. On the basis of these calculations a stable generator of tunable bandwidth-limited picosecond pulses was optimized.     

Solvent dependent characteristics of XeCl pumped UV dye lasers

The characteristics of near uv dye lasers pumped with short duration, 308 nm pulses from a XeCl laser are described with particular emphasis on the parameters influencing high average power operation. The solvent is shown to effect the operation of all dye lasers studied, particularly the photochemical stability. Measurements of the efficiency, as a function of the integrated pump energy have been made for a series of dye-solvent combinations. With the best combinations, average output powers in excess of 1W and conversion efficiencies greater than 25% were obtained at a repetition rate of ∼100 Hz.     

Wavelength tuning of nitrogen pumped dye laser

In this paper a method is described for continuous wavelength tuning of nitrogen pumped dye laser by changing the concentration of an additional dye in the lasing solution.     

Subpicosecond pulse generation in synchronously pumped and hybrid ring dye lasers

Subpicosecond pulse generation has been examined in synchronously pumped mode-locked ring dye laser systems. These include hybrid and composite absorber/gain media arrangements as well as a simple synchronous cavity. The shortest pulses recorded were 0.3 ps for the hybrid system, and this has been shown to be critically dependent on the positioning of the absorber jet in the centre of the cavity to better than 50 m. Stable operation for subpicosecond pulse generation has been achieved in the ring configuration with greater wavelength tunability and higher average power conversion efficiency than with conventional cavity arrangements.     

Subpicosecond pulse generation in synchronously pumped energy transfer dye lasers

We describe a laser-cooling experiment on Mg⁺ ions confined in an electromagnetic trap (Penning trap or rf trap) and give the preliminary experimental results. In particular, we have observed a laser cooling in the Penning trap configuration in which a measured temperature of about 1 K has been obtained.