Low-coherence dye laser with an intracavity radiation diffuser

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 29; no. 8; pp. 11453 - 11467
• Main Authors: Burdukova, O A, Konyshkin, V A, Petukhov, V A, Semenov, M A, Senatsky, Yu V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 12.04.2021
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.421066

Study of a low-coherence dye laser is reported. A cuvette with a 2 mm gap containing a dense mixture (slurry) of LiF crystal granules (70-140 μm) and an immersion liquid with a dye dissolved in it was installed in a double flat mirror cavity as an active element and simultaneously as a diffuser of radiation. The parallel light beam experiences losses in such a cuvette due to refraction at a set of interfaces between solid particles and a liquid in which different parts of the beam are randomly deflected at small angles. Measurements of the loss coefficients, angles of rays' deflection in the cuvette-diffuser were carried out. When this cuvette was pumped by 25 ns pulses of the 2nd harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser, 20 ns pulses of radiation in the region of 550-650 nm with energy ≈1 mJ at a beam divergence 5-80 mrad, and a degree of spatial coherence γ ≲ 0.1 were obtained in slurry with PM567, Rh101 or DCM dyes. The features of spectra and spatial-angular characteristics of these slurry lasers are discussed, tuning of the spatial coherence of radiation is demonstrated. Possible applications of a dye laser with an intracavity diffuser as a source of low-coherence radiation are considered.