Tunable organic dye lasers: Physics and technology of high-performance liquid and solid-state narrow-linewidth oscillators

Tunable organic dye lasers, usually referred simply as dye lasers, were the first broadly tunable lasers. Besides this awesome intrinsic feature, dye lasers emit directly in the visible spectrum and in their liquid state are uniquely suited to efficiently generate large pulsed average powers and large single-pulse energies. Other aspects of operational versatility include the ability to lase in the continuous wave (CW) regime and in the femtosecond-pulse regime. Consequently, organic dye lasers have served as pioneering vehicles for the development of essential laser physics. This is particularly true in the areas of tunable narrow-linewidth emission and femtosecond-laser emission. In this review we examine the essentials of cavity dispersion physics that make these emission modes possible, characteristics that have enabled a plethora of very successful and innovative applications. This review also examines developments in highly-efficient tunable single-longitudinal-mode organic solid-state dye lasers. A perspective on possible future trends, including miniature devices, is also provided.