Influence of dye gain medium flow on the wavelength jitter and the drift of high repetition rate—Single mode dye lasers

This paper presents the effect of the flow of the dye gain medium on the wavelength jitter (<30 s) and drift (≈10 min) of a single axial mode dye laser pumped by a copper vapor laser (5.5 kHz). The study was carried out using a wave-meter. The dye solution temperature was maintained to within ±0.1 °C to allow the influence of dye flow rate on the wavelength stability. For the investigated dye flow rate, varying from 1.4 to 2.8 lpm (with corresponding Reynolds number varying from 1975 to 3950), the dye laser wavelength jitter reduced from ±0.15 pm (±130 MHz) to ±0.08 pm (±70 MHz) and drift rate reduced from 1.0  to 0. 2 MHz/s. However for flows beyond 1.7 lpm, random fluctuations in dye laser wavelength were observed. The observed behavior was linked to the flow related variation of angular spread and angular drift of the dye laser beam circulating in the cavity. This was revealed by an exhaustive study of the long term (≈10 min) divergence and pointing stability of the single mode dye laser output beams for different dye media flows.

► The wavelength jitter/drift of single axial mode dye laser is studied with dye flow.
► The wavelength jitter/drift reduced as the dye gain flow rate increased.
► At very high dye flow rate, the random jumps in the dye laser wavelengths observed.
► The wavelength jumps are linked to angular spread/drift of circulating dye laser beam.