Page 196 - Tunable Lasers Handbook

174 F. J. Duarte

Copper vapor lasers (CVLs) can operate up to prfs in excess of 30 kHz [39].
Furthermore, the spectral emission from those lasers is ideally suited for the effi-
cient excitation of orange-red dyes such as the rhodamine class. Indeed, Bass et
al. [2] report average powers in excess of 2.5 kW for a CVL-pumped dye laser
system capable of efficiencies better than 50%.
As discussed by Duarte [37] conversion efficiencies are optimized when the
emission wavelength of the pump laser corresponds to the maximum absorption
wavelength of the S,+S, electronic transition of the dye. Hence, excitation
lasers emitting in the ultraviolet are most suitable to excite dyes emitting in the
blue-green. Pump lasers emitting in the green yield the best conversion efficien-

TABLE 3 Available Lasers for Excitation of Pulsed Dye Lasersa

a -Bandwidth
Lasers Transition (nm) prfb (GW Referencec

248 200 Hz 105OOd
2583d
308 500 Hz 374
204
308.2 397
223
XeF 35 1 200 Hz 187
353 330
N, 337.1 100 Hz 203
HgBr 502 <IO0 Hz 918
504 1012
Ca+ 373.7
Sr+ 430.5 0.5-15 kHz 2-12e
Cd+ 533.7
cu 510.5 5-30 kHz 7
cu 578.2 5-30 HZ 11
Au 627.8 5-20 kHz
A1,0, : Cr3+ 694.3 1 Hz 7
Nd:YAG 1064 10-50 Hz 15-30
532
355
266

UAdapted from Duarte [37]; with permission.
hThe prf figures do not represent absolute limits.
CReferences relate to the full-width bandwidth exclusively
Tuning range.
eRange of variable linewidth.