Frequency locking of a pulsed dye laser near a resonant transition

Abstract

Frequency locking of a pulsed dye laser by resonant sodium transitions is studied experimentally. The effect is shown to be produced by dispersive spatial inhomogeneities at the edges of the intracavity sodium heat-pipe. The measured angular dispersion due to these inhomogeneities is found to be adequate to produce narrow laser emissions with a bandwidth of about 0.1 Å on both sides of the D lines. It is shown that nonlinear effects are negligible for dye laser intensities up to 100 kW/cm 2.