Tunable repetitively pulsed flashlamp-pumped dye lasers

An experimental investigation was made of the spatioangular and spectral-energy characteristics of high-power tunable repetitively pulsed flashlamp-pumped dye lasers. A high directionality of the output radiation was attained in a wide range of the concentrations of the active molecules when aqueous solutions of dyes, in particular an inclusion complex of coumarin-120 and β-cyclodextrin, were used. Such high directionality was obtained for alcohol and water-alcohol solutions only when the concentrations of these molecules were low. Continuous variation of the tuning range of lasers of this class should be possible by the use of suitable mixtures of efficient donor and acceptor dyes. (lasers)