Efficient single-mode operation of a standing-wave dye laser

The selection of a single longitudinal mode of a dye laser can be achieved with double or triple Michelson reflectors instead of Fabry-Perot etalons inside the laser cavity. These systems can be adapted to commercial multimode dye lasers. They provide a high efficiency and a good geometrical quality of the output beam. With a 7 watt pump power (λ=514.5 nm line of the Ar⁺ laser), a tunable output power of 1 watt was obtained at the peak of R6G, in the main output beam; the total single-mode power, including the auxiliary output beams, exceeded 1.4 watt. These results correspond to efficiencies of 14% and 20%, respectively (24% and 30% slope efficiencies). We discuss in the text why these efficiencies are comparable to those of ring lasers. In the infrared, with a 4.5 watt pump power (red lines of a Kr⁺ laser), 250 mW of single-mode output power in the main output beam was obtained at 780 nm with Oxazine 750.