Stable laser with concentrated neodymium phosphate glass for picosecond time-resolution spectroscopy

A stably operating picosecond laser with concentrated neodymium phosphate glass was constructed. The laser emitted single pulses of 3 psec duration and of 8 mJ energy (after amplification). It was used as a master oscillator in a multipurpose automated spectrometer with continuous frequency tuning provided by optical parametric oscillators. The time resolution achieved in this spectrometer and the continuous frequency tuning made it possible to carry out a number of investigations in which new methods were used to determine nonlinear optical properties of dye solutions.