Spectral narrowing in pulsed dye lasers is studied theoretically. Fabry-Perot etalons, gratings, and prisms are considered as tuning elements. Each one is characterized by a new parameter: the spectral width associated with a round trip in the laser cavity. Numerical examples show that depending on cavity parameters it is either the round-trip spectral width or the width due to beam divergence which limits the bandwidth of the laser emission. Instantaneous spectral narrowing is found to be proportional to the square root of the time elapsed after the laser onset when a Fabry-Perot etalon or grating is used. When a prism is set in the laser cavity the instantaneous narrowing is proportional to time.

© 1978 Optical Society of America

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