Flashlamp-excited organic dye lasers

Abstract

The flashlamp-excited dye laser is presently the only type of laser capable of tunable emission throughout most of the visible spectrum. Gain and power output of the device are comparable to solid-state systems although the laser performance is hindered by thermal effects, produced by spatially nonuniform excitation of the dye, and optical losses associated with the molecular triplet state. In most of the known laser dyes, steady-state lasing is prevented by triplet state effects. The analysis of the gain of the dye laser is discussed in terms of the singlet-state absorption and fluorescence and triplet-state absorption spectra. The gain analysis is used to study the influence of the triplet state upon the critical inversion, and application of the analysis to a specific system is illustrated by the detailed discussion of the rhodamine 6G laser. A criterion for the maximum permissible triplet-state lifetime consistent with CW operation is given. The quenching of the triplet state of rhodamine 6G is shown to be rapid enough to allow CW operation, although thermal effects seem to be serious. The investigation of thermal effects is reviewed and the advantages of uniform excitation of the dye are pointed out. The minimum optical excitation power required for CW operation of a 7-cm-long rhodamine 6G laser of 2 mm diameter is estimated to be 850 watts neglecting thermal effects. A catalog of dyes, with their structures, that have been used in flashlamp-excited dye lasers is given. Various methods of tuning and mode locking the dye laser are reviewed. With a single dye a tuning range of 40 nm may be obtained by substituting a diffraction grating for one of the laser mirrors. Mode locking can be produced by placing a saturable dye absorber in the cavity.