Lasing in dye vapor exposed to wide-band optical pumping

Lasing in a flashlamp-pumped dye vapor was observed for the first time. The laser active medium was coumarin 6 vapor stabilized with ether vapor at a pressure of ~3 MPa. The vapor was pumped by a transverse-discharge flashlamp with a pulse duration of ~200 nsec. The lasing wavelength was 527 nm and the spectral width was 16 nm.