A novel simple Nd:YAG-laser-pumped pulsed hybrid dye-Ti:sapphire laser
is described. A spectral linewidth of 0.28 nm is selected near thresh
old and tuned from 705 to 770 nm in a compact (15-cm long) cavity. Whe
n the threshold is exceeded by a factor of 1-3, the jitter in the onse
t of the Ti:sapphire laser pulse is reduced to 10 ns. This is about 7%
of the 140-ns jitter for a pure Ti:sapphire laser under equivalent co
nditions. The result is achieved via accelerated gain switching in the
Ti:sapphire induced by intracavity injection of radiation from the dy
e.