Materials for a Reliable Solid-State Dye Laser at the Red Spectral Edge

In the search to extend the tuning range of solid-state dye lasers (SSDLs) to the red-edge spectral region, new photosensitive materials have been designed and synthesized based on six commercial dyes (sulforhodamine B, perylene red, rhodamine 640, LDS698, LDS722, and LDS730) incorporated into different linear, crosslinked, fluorinated, and sililated polymeric matrices. Under transversal pumping at 532 nm, these materials exhibit highly efficient, stable, as well as wavelength-tunable laser action from the visible-to-NIR spectral region (575–750 nm). The lasing performance of the materials doped with perylene and xanthene dyes is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest achieved to date for these chromophores when incorporated into organic, inorganic, or hybrid matrices. Regarding the LDS derivatives, this is the first time that laser action from these dyes in solid-state media is reported. These particular characteristics have impelled the building of the first prototype SSDL that is compact, versatile, and easy to handleFinanced by the Spanish MICINN (Project MAT2007-65778-C02-01). V. Martin thanks CSIC for her JAE postdoctoral contract. M. Pintado-Sierra acknowledges a research grant for MICINN (cofinanced by Fondo Social Europeo). The materials described in this work and their utilization in solidstate dye lasers are covered by Spanish Patent N- P200802558, filed on September 2008.Peer reviewe