Electronically Tunable Filter and Dye Laser.

The electronically tunable acousto-optic filter is studied with regard to its application for the electronic tuning of dye lasers. A Brewster angle CaMoO4 filter was constructed, evaluated, and used to tune a flashlamp pumped dye laser. A total electronic tuning range of 6800 to 4735 was achieved. The electronically tuned dye laser was used to construct the first electronically tuned optical parametric oscillations. At fixed temperature, the oscillator was tunable from 0.9 micron to 1.15 microns and from 1.3 microns to 1.7 microns. Both the electronically tuned dye laser and optical parametric oscillator performed as well or better than comparable mechanically or thermally tuned devices. A brief portion of this report gives results of a theoretical study of an electronically tunable CaMoO4 filter for use in the near infrared portion of the spectrum. (Author)