Laser sources for strobe photorecording

Extremely fast, short-pulse optical sources are useful in a variety of film recording applications. High power lasers, though they can be used to generate high repetition rate strobe pulses, are relatively cumbersome and frequently require water cooling. This paper gives results of experimental characterizations of two air-cooled medium-power short-pulse laser systems evaluated for image recording with Silver-Halide photographic films. Both HeCd and Argon lasers have been examined, and features of each will be discussed. Laser mode locking, with cavity dumping operation was used to demonstrate subnanosecond pulsewidth generation, for repetition rates up to 1 MHz, and peak optical powers exceeding 10 watts.