Temporal dynamics of diode-pumped circulation-free liquid dye lasers Available to Purchase

A highly stable diode-pumped circulation-free liquid dye laser in a plano-concave cavity is reported. The design is simple (no fabrication process step required and no fluid circuitry), compact (∼ cm sized), and cost-effective. An optical efficiency of 18% with an M² of 1 is reported with an excellent photostability—no efficiency drop was seen after 1.4 × 10⁶ pulses at 50 Hz, a value comparable to flowing systems. We show that thermal effects are central in the stability and also on the dynamics of this laser. The laser build-up and shutdown dynamics are studied in detail for different pump pulse durations/repetition rates; they reveal pulse shortening with an increasing pump pulse duration and repetition rate that are shown to be due to thermal lensing diffraction losses. This laser structure offers a very convenient and simple platform for testing or harvesting solution-processable gain materials.