Characterization of a pulsed rhodamine/ethanol dye laser

Abstract We present here the implementation and characterization of a rhodamine dye laser pumped by a pulsed, high-power solid-state laser. The employed dye consisted of a solution of rhodamine 6G in ethanol at different concentrations. To maximize the laser efficiency the second harmonic of a pulsed Nd: YAG was used to collinearly pump the cavity. In particular, the effect of rhodamine concentration and pump energy on the laser emission were investigated. The laser emission obtained was found to have, on average, a width at half maximum (FWHM) of 12 nm. It was found, for example, that the wavelength of the output line varies linearly with the dye’s concentration. Under the employed experimental conditions, maximum efficiency of 12% is obtained with a concentration of 2.5×10−7 mol/l rhodamine in alcohol.