Vortex stabilized flashlamps for dye laser pumping

A unique vortex gas flow stabilized flashlamp has been developed for dye laser pumping. With a 2-musec current pulse the flashlamp can be operated at up to 250 J/pulse and can be run at a pulse repetition rate of up to 20 pulses/sec. At 200 J/pulse the useful lamp lifetime is several hundred thousand shots. Used for pumping the rhodamine 6G dye laser, the lamp has produced a 10-W average dye laser output.