Solid state dye lasers: Rhodamines in silica–zirconia materials

Silica–zirconia materials as well as silica–zirconia ormosils prepared by the sol–gel technique were doped with the laser dyes Rhodamine B and Rhodamine 6G and used as solid state dye lasers. The photostability and efficiency of the solid state laser samples were measured in a transverse pumping configuration by either a nitrogen laser or the second harmonic of a Nd–YAG laser. Under the excitation of a nitrogen laser the photostability of Rhodamine B in silica–zirconia materials was low and decreased with a growing amount of zirconia. The photophysical properties of the incorporated dyes were studied by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The fluorescence lifetimes of both dyes increased when the matrix was modified by organic compounds. Furthermore, the threshold energy of Rhodamine 6G in two ormosils containing 3 and 50% methylsilica was measured. The results revealed that the threshold energy was lower for the matrix with a higher amount of ormosil while the slope efficiency was higher in the matrix containing 30% ormosil.