Tunable continuous wave single-mode dye laser directly pumped by a diode laser

In this work, a tunable continuous wave single-mode ring dye laser (a modified version of Coherent model CR 699-21), directly optically pumped by an economy-class diode laser, has been set up. The laser was operated on Coumarin 498, and its generation profile covered part of the green spectral region not easily accessible in single-mode operation. The performance of the laser in both broad-band and single-mode operation regimes was studied. It was proved that optical pumping by diode lasers allows one to obtain single-mode operation of dye lasers that is sufficiently stable for high-resolution spectroscopy applications. (letter)