Technology and engineering aspects of high power pulsed single longitudinal mode dye lasers

Abstract

Tunable single mode pulsed dye lasers are capable of generating optical radiations in the visible range having very small bandwidths (transform limited), high average power (a few kW) at a high pulse repetition rate (a few tens of kHz), small beam divergence and relatively higher efficiencies. These dye lasers are generally utilized laser dyes dissolved in solvents such as water, heavy water, ethanol, methanol, etc. to provide a rapidly flowing gain medium. The dye laser is a versatile tool, which can lase either in the continuous wave (CW) or in the pulsed mode with pulse duration as small as a few tens of femtoseconds. In this review, we have examined the several cavity designs, various types of gain mediums and numerous types of dye cell geometries for obtaining the single longitudinal mode pulsed dye laser. Different types of cavity configuration, such as very short cavity, short cavity with frequency selective element and relatively longer cavity with multiple frequency selective elements were reviewed. These single mode lasers have been pumped by all kinds of pumping sources such as flash lamps, Excimer, Nitrogen, Ruby, Nd:YAG, Copper Bromide and Copper Vapor Lasers. The single mode dye lasers are either pumped transversely or longitudinally to the resonator axis. The pulse repletion rate of these pump lasers were ranging from a few Hz to a few tens of kHz. Physics technology and engineering aspects of tuning mechanism, mode hop free scanning and dye cell designs are also presented in this review. Tuning of a single mode dye laser with a resolution of a few MHz per step is a technologically challenging task, which is discussed here.