PICOSECOND TRANSIENT BACKWARD STIMULATED RAMAN-SCATTERING AND PUMPING OF FEMTOSECOND DYE-LASERS

We report studies of transient, backward stimulated, Raman scattering (TBSRS) in solvents with a 10 Hz, 27 ps, 532 nm pump laser. The TBSRS effect was used to create pulses at 545 nm and 630 nm with durations of 2-3 ps and 5-10 mu J of energy. The duration, energy and fluctuations of the Raman pulse were studied as a function of pump energy and focal parameters. A 5 mu J Raman pulse was amplified in either a Raman amplifier or two stage dye amplifier to 1 ml levels. A 545 nm pulse of 3 ps duration was generated in CCl4 and was then used to pump a short cavity dye laser (SCDL). The SCDL oscillator and a 5 stage dye amplifier provided a pulse of 700 fs and 400 mu J that was tunable near 590 nm.