Solid Dye Lasers Based on 2-Hydroxypropyl Methacrylate and Methyl Methacrylate Copolymers

Polymers are a kind of attractive hosts for laser dyes because of their superior optical homogeneity, and high transparency in pumping and lasing range. Copolymers usually have higher damage threshold and better photostability than mono-polymers. Solid dye samples based on copolymer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) doped
with 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 8-pentamethyl-2, 6-diethylpyrromethene-BF₂ (PM567) are prepared. Spectra and lasing properties of the samples are studied. Compared to the samples based on monopolymer polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), enhanced slope efficiency and photostability are obtained in the copolymers. The highest slope efficiency is 45.1%, and nearly one-fold increase of photostability is obtained. The longest useful lifetime of 4390 pumping pulses is presented with the pump energy as high as 183mJ per pulse at repetition rate of 10Hz. The results indicate that the laser performances of solid dye mediums can be greatly increased using copolymer of MMA with HPMA as host.