Abstract

The easiest route to produce tunable optical pulses is to use a broadband fluorescent gain medium. For this purpose organic dye molecules are very suitable and have been widely used in solution during the past 30 years. Today, new crystals such as titanium sapphire, and nonlinear techniques such as optical parametric oscillation, may provide solid state systems. For dyes to remain competitive, it would be interesting to disperse the molecules in solid host matrices, instead of diluting them in solutions. This may be achieved by using the sol-gel process.^1–3

© 1994 IEEE