Tunable near-infrared picosecond pulses from a short-cavity dye laser

A detailed investigation of the short-cavity dye laser system, primarily using the near-infrared dye LDS 821, is reported. The laser system consisted of a short cavity, a longitudinally pumped three-stage amplifier, and a wavelength control unit. The laser emission was analyzed temporally, spectrally, and spatially as a function of the pump level, the cavity length, and the dye concentration. The energy conversion efficiency and the amplitude and wavelength stabilities were experimentally determined. From these measurements, the conditions for optimized performance were ascertained and the output parameters important to experimental applications were determined. The laser was also tested with rhodamine 590 in order to examine its performance in a different spectral region and to demonstrate its spectral versatility.