Abstract

Tunable lasers are routinely used in scientific investigations and are now finding application in areas such as medicine and remote sensing. The tutorial covers the basic physics of tunable laser media as well as elements of laser technology specific to tunable systems. Included as subject matter are dye, color-center, solid-state, and parametric-oscillator devices. The use of optical components such as prisms, gratings, birefringent filters, and etalons as tuning elements is also discussed. The factors determining operating linewidth of both pulsed and cw lasers are considered with techniques for obtaining narrow laser linewidths.

© 1988 Optical Society of America