Cain studies of Coumarin 490 dye-doped polymer laser

Solid-state dye-doped polymer is an attractive alternative to the conventio nal liquid dye solution. In this paper the laser characteristics of Coumari n 490-doped polymethyl methacrylate rods modified with EtOH are studied und er nitrogen laser and 3rd harmonic Nd:YAG laser excitation, in a transverse pumping configuration. The variation of gain coefficient of the dye molecu les in the solid medium with different pump powers is studied. Photobleachi ng of a dye-doped polymer rod is also studied under nitrogen laser and 3rd harmonic Nd:YAG laser excitation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.