High Duty Cycle Pulsed Dye Laser Using a Waveguide Excimer Pump

A unique XeCl excimer laser system has been used to produce efficient lasing action in two commonly used laser dyes, rhodamine 6G and coumarin 480. The compact, microwave discharge, XeCl excimer laser has a comparatively large duty cycle of 10^-4 and operates at a 1 kHz pulse repetition rate. In conjunction with a commercial dye jet system, dye laser output, with peak powers of 55 W for R6G and 25 W for C480, has been obtained.