Efficient Tunable All-Solid-State Pyrromethene Dye Laser Pumped by a Laser-Diode Pumped Nd:YAG Laser

Abstract

Efficient and stable laser dyes pyrromethene-BF2 complexes were successfully incorporated into organically modified silicate (Ormosil) matrices via sol-gel process. Laser oscillation were easily observed in all hand-polished dye-doped Ormosils pumped by frequency-doubled radiation from a laser-diode pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. A slope efficiency of 57% has been obtained from one of the dyes in Ormosil, the cavity was continuously tunable over 50 nm, from 550 to 600 nm. The laser output energy has only 10% reduction after 3.0×104 pulses at a pump repetition rate of 30 Hz and a pump intensity of 1 J/cm2. An efficient, all-solid-state, compact, long-lifetime, and tunable dye laser has been demonstrated.