High performance zig-zag dye laser

In this paper we report a substantial advanee in dye laser performance using a zig-zag optical cavity configuration, The dye laser was optically excited by an excimer laser pulse pumping from two sides. The dye used was Coumarin-498 operating at ~500 nm and the excimer pump was KrF at 248 nm. The pump power was about 0.85 MVV/cm2. Stable and unstable optical cavities as well as conventional straight-through and zig-zag optical configurations wem studied.