Solid-state dye laser

{{Short description|Laser with a dye-doped organic matrix}} thumb|Organic solid-state narrow-linewidth tunable dye laser oscillator<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1364/AO.37.003987|title=Long-pulse narrow-linewidth dispersive solid-state dye laser oscillator|pmid=18273368|year=1998|last1=Duarte|first1=F. J.|last2=Taylor|first2=T. S.|last3=Costela|first3=A.|last4=Garcia-Moreno|first4=I.|last5=Sastre|first5=R.|journal=Applied Optics|volume=37|issue=18|pages=3987–3989|bibcode = 1998ApOpt..37.3987D }}</ref>

A '''solid-state dye laser''' ('''SSDL''') is a solid-state lasers in which the gain medium is a laser dye-doped organic matrix such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), rather than a liquid solution of the dye. These lasers are also referred to as ''solid-state organic lasers'' and ''solid-state dye-doped polymer lasers''.

SSDLs were introduced in 1967 by Soffer and McFarland.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.1754804|title=Continuously Tunable, Narrow-Band Organic Dye Lasers|year=1967|last1=Soffer|first1=B. H.|last2=McFarland|first2=B. B.|journal=Applied Physics Letters|volume=10|pages=266|bibcode = 1967ApPhL..10..266S|issue=10 }}</ref>

== Organic gain media ==

In the 1990s, new forms of improved PMMA, such as modified PMMA, with high optical quality characteristics were introduced.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1364/AO.34.001516|title=Solid-state dye laser with modified poly(methyl methacrylate)-doped active elements|pmid=21037689|year=1995|last1=Maslyukov|first1=A.|last2=Sokolov|first2=S.|last3=Kaivola|first3=M.|last4=Nyholm|first4=K.|last5=Popov|first5=S.|journal=Applied Optics|volume=34|issue=9|pages=1516–1518|bibcode = 1995ApOpt..34.1516M }}</ref> Gain media research for SSDL has been rather active in the 21st century, and various new dye-doped solid-state organic matrices have been discovered.<ref>A. J. C. Kuehne and M. C. Gather, Organic Lasers: Recent Developments on Materials, Device Geometries, and Fabrication Techniques, ''Chem. Rev.'' '''116''', 12823-12864 (2016).</ref> Notable among these new gain media are organic-inorganic dye-doped polymer-nanoparticle composites.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1364/OL.28.002088|pmid=14587824|title=Tunable solid-state lasers incorporating dye-doped polymer-nanoparticle gain media|year=2003|last1=Duarte|first1=F. J.|last2=James|first2=R. O.|journal=Optics Letters|volume=28|issue=21|pages=2088–90|bibcode = 2003OptL...28.2088D }}</ref><ref name = TLA3>{{cite book |editor =Duarte, F. J. |title=Tunable Laser Applications | edition = 2nd |publisher= CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4200-6009-6 |author1=Costela, A. |author2=Garcia-Moreno, I. |author3=Sastre, R. | chapter = Solid state dye lasers| pages = [http://www.tunablelasers.com/tla.htm 97–120] }}</ref><ref name = TLA4>{{cite book |editor =Duarte, F. J. |title=Tunable Laser Applications | edition = 2nd |publisher= CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4200-6009-6 |author1=Duarte, F. J. |author2=James, R. O. | chapter = Tunable lasers based on dye-doped polymer gain media incorporating homogeneous distributions of functional nanoparticles| pages = [http://www.tunablelasers.com/tla.htm 121–142] }}</ref> An additional form of organic-inorganic dye-doped solid-state laser gain media are the ORMOSILs.<ref name="TLA4"/><ref name="D1994"/>

== High performance solid-state dye laser oscillators ==

This improved gain medium was central to the demonstration of the first tunable narrow-linewidth solid-state dye laser oscillators, by Duarte,<ref name="D1994">{{cite journal|doi=10.1364/AO.33.003857|pmid=20935726|title=Solid-state multiple-prism grating dye-laser oscillators|year=1994|last1=Duarte, F. J.|author1-link=F. J. Duarte|journal=Applied Optics|volume=33|issue=18|pages=3857–3860|bibcode = 1994ApOpt..33.3857D|first1=F. J. }}</ref> which were later optimized to deliver pulse emission in the kW regime in nearly diffraction limited beams with single-longitudinal-mode laser linewidths of <math>\Delta \nu</math> ≈ 350 MHz (or <math>\Delta \lambda</math> ≈ 0.0004 nm, at a laser wavelength of 590 nm).<ref name="D1999">{{cite journal|doi=10.1364/AO.38.006347|pmid=18324163|title=Multiple-prism grating solid-state dye laser oscillator: optimized architecture|year=1999|last1=Duarte|first1=F. J. |journal=Applied Optics|volume=38|issue=30|pages=6347–6349|bibcode = 1999ApOpt..38.6347D }}</ref> These tunable laser oscillators use multiple-prism grating architectures<ref name="D1999"/> yielding very high intracavity dispersions that can be nicely quantified using the multiple-prism grating equations.<ref name = TLO>{{cite book |title=Tunable Laser Optics | edition = 2nd| publisher= CRC Press |location=New York |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4822-4529-5 | author = Duarte, F. J. |chapter = The physics of multiple-prism optics| pages = [http://www.tunablelaseroptics.com/ 77–100] }}</ref>

== Distributed feedback and waveguide solid-state dye lasers ==

Additional developments in solid-state dye lasers were demonstrated with the introduction of distributed feedback laser designs in 1999<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s003400050791|title=Efficient distributed feedback solid state dye laser with a dynamic grating|year=1999|last1=Wadsworth|first1=W. J.|last2=McKinnie|first2=I. T.|last3=Woolhouse|first3=A. D.|last4=Haskell|first4=T. G.|journal=Applied Physics B|volume=69|issue=2|pages=163–169|bibcode = 1999ApPhB..69..163W |s2cid=122330477 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1364/AO.39.003104|title=Distributed-feedback dye-doped solgel silica lasers|year=2000|last1=Zhu|first1=X-L|last2=Lam|first2=S-K|last3=Lo|first3=D. |journal=Applied Optics|volume=39|issue=18|pages=3104–3107|bibcode = 2000ApOpt..39.3104Z|pmid=18345240 }}</ref> and distributed feedback waveguides in 2002.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0030-4018(02)02125-9|title=Long lifetime and high repetition rate operation from distributed feedback plastic waveguided dye lasers|year=2002|last1=Oki|first1=Y.|last2=Miyamoto|first2=S.|last3=Tanaka|first3=M.|last4=Zuo|first4=D.|last5=Maeda|first5=M.|journal= Optics Communications|volume=214|issue=1–6|pages=277–283 |bibcode = 2002OptCo.214..277O }}</ref>

== References ==

Category:Solid-state lasers