From Flashlamp-Pumped Liquid Dye Lasers to Diode-Pumped Solid-State Dye Lasers

Dye-laser technology has seen very significant progress over the last 39 years since the first demonstration of this device technology. Dye lasers offer efficient emission in the visible and near-infrared bands by direct generation of laser light. The initial emphasis was on the liquid-phase technology, and is the one very successful liquid laser. More recently the research emphasis has been solid-state versions of this technology and in particular applying diode-laser-pumping techniques to a dye-doped gain medium. In general, dye lasers offer a range of valuable characteristics, as well as significant flexibility, which have been exploited for many applications. Some of these applications are discussed in this paper, along with the fundamentals of dye laser action and its supporting technology.