Abstract

The design and operating characteristics of a dye laser pumped by a 3-W copper-vapor laser (CVL) and injection seeded by low-power (1–5 mW) He–Ne lasers at 633 nm are reported. An extremely simple optical arrangement is used wherein the output mirror of the He–Ne laser and a third mirror form the dye laser cavity. Laser efficiency in fixed-wavelength operation has been investigated for variable CVL pump power, He–Ne injection power and polarization, and cavity output coupling for a standard Rhodamine 590/Rhodamine 640 dye solution. Over 90% of free-running (unseeded) laser power is obtained in fixed-wavelength (seeded) operation at low CVL pump powers (≤1 W), dropping to approximately 60% at 3-W pump power. Maximum CVL pump to dye laser optical conversion efficiency in narrow-band, fixed-wavelength operation at 633 nm was 12%.

© 1995 Optical Society of America

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