Active filtering for neodymium lasers

Eleven fluorescing organic dyes were tested for their ability to alter the spectrum of a flashlamp in such a way as to increase the light intensity in one or more of the neodymium laser pump bands. A few of the dyes gave a marked improvement in the output energy of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Rhodamine 6G was identified as the best dye, giving better than 50 percent improvement in the laser output for 15-J 140-μs flashlamp pulses.