Tunable Lasers Handbook

5

Dye Lasers

F.J. Duarte,     Eastman Kodak Company Rochester, New York

1. INTRODUCTION

Dye lasers are unique sources of tunable coherent radiation that offer unparalleled operational flexibility. Broad tunability, from the near ultraviolet to the near infrared (Fig. 1), is facilitated by the existence of hundreds of laser dye molecular species. The tuning range of pulsed narrow-bandwidth emission achievable with a single dye can be up to 50 nm. Significantly broader tuning ranges (up to 100 nm) can be obtained with some dyes under pulsed broadband and continuous wave (cw) operation.

FIGURE 1 Approximate wavelength coverage achieved with ...