Active-passive mode locking of a flashlamp-pumped dye laser

A simple dye laser system for obtaining relatively high energy, synchronized, picosecond pulses is described. The novel combination of active and passive mode locking within a single flashlamp-pumped dye laser cavity produced 2.5 μJ, sub-10 ps pulses capable of being synchronized to an external event with better than 100 ps accuracy. The single pulse energy was subsequently increased to 40 μJ by using a larger twin flashlamp-pumped oscillator.