Laser dye technology

Abstract

The author has worked with laser dyes for a number of years. A first interest was in the Navy blue-green program where a flashlamp pumped dye laser was used as an underwater communication and detection device. It made use of the optical window of sea-water--blue for deep ocean, green for coastal water. A major activity however has been with the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation Program (AVLIS) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The aim here has been enriching isotopes for the nuclear fuel cycle. The tunability of the dye laser is utilized to selectively excite one isotope in uranium vapor, and this isotope is collected electrostatically as shown in Figure 1. The interests in the AVLIS program have been in the near ultra-violet, violet, red and deep-red