A 110 J Highly Energetic Flashlamp-Pumped Dye Laser

A highly energetic flashlamp-pumped dye laser of 110 J output energy and overall efficiency of 1.1% is developed. For such a powerful laser particular considerations must be taken in order to reduce thermal distortion in the dye solution caused by high-energy pumping. The laser system is therefore composed of a laser head with a four-fold elliptical cylindrical reflector, extended Marx-bank driver circuit, a large aperture dye cell of 44 mm inner diameter and an unstable resonator.This paper is based on a presentation given at the 17th International Laser Radar Conference held in Sendai International Center, Japan, from 25–29 July 1994.