Abstract

Development of the titanium: sapphire laser¹ has mainly been confined to laser pumping because of its short (3.2-μsec) spontaneous emission lifetime. Esterowitz et al.² reported successful flashlamp pumping of Ti:AI₂O₃ with efficiency enhanced by using a dye surrounding the laser rod to convert near-UV light from the flashlamp into blue-green fluorescence overlapping the titanium absorption band (Fig. 1). The present work describes successful attempts to increase substantially the flashlamp pump efficiency and better characterize flashlamp-pumped behavior.

© 1985 Optical Society of America