Bio-effects of repetitively pulsed ultra-fast distributed feedback dye lasers

Results of experimental study showing an unexpected rise in pulses of distributed feedback dye laser (DFDL) output due to temperature accumulation in dye cell during passively Q-Switched, a Mode-locked operation is reported. This unintended increase in number of pulse duration, per pulse energy may cause side-effects when used for selective photo thermolysis. To probe this phenomenon most commonly dye was excited with 10 to 20 pulses of second harmonic of a passively Q-Switched and Mode-locked Nd-YaG laser. The outputs of DFDL and Nd:YaG laser were recorded by Imacon 675-streak camera. The peak of DFDL output pulses was found delayed proportionally from the peak of the NYAG pulses by more than one inter-pulse period of excitation laser. A computer program was used to simulate the experimentally measured delay to estimate thermal decay constants and energy retained by the medium to determine the amount of incremental fluctuations in output. The delay between peaks of Nd:YAG (input) and DFDL(output) pulses was found to vary from 10 to 14 nanoseconds for various cavity lengths. It was found that for smaller inter-pulse periods the effect of gradual build-up satisfies the threshold conditions for some of the pulses that otherwise can not. This may lead to unintended increase in energy fluence causing overexposure-induced side-effects. (author)