High Speed Absorption Line Profile Measurements Using A Rapidly Tunable Dye Laser

Absorption line profiles of instationary plasmas have been measured in a few hundred nanoseconds using a special flashlamp-pumped dye laser as a light source. This laser can be tuned during a single pulse over more than 1.5 nm with a tuning velocity of 3.4 nm/us. This is achieved by inserting a four-element electrooptical birefringent filter (Lyot-filter) into the cavity. The laser shows self-mode-locking with consecutive pulses having a wavelength separation of 0.03 nm. Absorption profiles of the Krypton I line 587.1 nm could be measured in 200 ns. The line was Stark broadened in a shock wave plasma.