Eciency and photostability of dye-doped solid-state lasers in dierent hosts Eli Yariv, Silke Schultheiss, Tsiala Saraidarov, Renata Reisfeld * Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel Abstract We survey the preparation procedures of pyrromethene PM) and rhodamine dyes in silica, silica±zirconia, organ- ically modi®ed silicate ormosil) and organic polymer matrices. Absorption and luminescence spectra, as well as decay time ¯uorescence of pyrromethene dyes are given. The solid-state laser samples were tested and their eciencies and photostabilities at transversal pumping con®guration, are given. Pyrromethene 597 had the best laser dye performance with slope eciency of 43.3% when doped in ormosil glass and high photostability when doped in polymethyl methacrylate) PMMA) . Analysis and explanations for the results are given. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sol±gel; Lasers; Rhodamine; Pyrromethene; Photostability; Eciency 1. Introduction Until recently, liquid dye lasers were the main systems used to achieve tunability in the visible, and the only commercial choice for tunable lasers between 400 and 660 nm. However, in the last few years an intensive eort was devoted to produce embedded organic dyes in various solid matrices, with the goal of achieving solid-state dye laser devices that may replace the liquid dye lasers [1]. Being non-volatile, non-¯ammable, non-toxic, compact and mechanically stable, solid-state dye laser has advantages over a liquid dye laser. Laser dyes were incorporated into organic polymers [2± 6], silica-gels, xerogels, alumina gels, and other sol±gel process derived glasses [7±13] forming sol- id-state dye laser samples. The laser samples were tested, by measuring their eciencies and photo- stabilities. Over the past years, great improvements of solid-state dye laser eciencies have been achieved, as a result of the development of the pyrromethene PM) and perylimide dyes and suitable host matrices. By optimization of the laser cavity, using longitudinal pumping systems, ex- tremely high eciencies of 85% were obtained for PM 567 doped in modi®ed polymethyl methac- rylate) PMMA) matrix [2] and in matrix prepared by sol±gel method [12]. High eciencies were ob- tained also for rhodamine, perylimide and other PM dyes, doped in solid matrices. But, these ad- vances were accompanied by limited lifetimes of the lasers, due to photodegradation of the dyes caused by high intensity or high repetition rate pumping.light pulses. This is a result of a heat dissipation problem in the solid matrices and is a serious impediment for their utilization. In liquid dyes, on the other hand, a jet or a ¯owing solution Optical Materials 16 2001) 29±38 www.elsevier.nl/locate/optmat * Corresponding author. Fax: +972-2-6585-319. E-mail address: renata@vms.huji.ac.il R. Reisfeld). 0925-3467/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0925-346700)00056-2