In vitro the lithium triborate GreenLight HPS 120 W laser vaporizes bovine prostate far more efficiently than the KTP photoselective vaporization laser but coagulates it equally well. These favorable outcomes must be validated in vivo.

An all-acousto-optically switched picosecond Nd:YAG regenerative amplifier has been developed for operation at pulse repetition rates in the 20-100-kHz range. The amplifier produces stable 50-ps pulses at 1064 nm in a TEMOO transverse mode with pulse energies of the order of 20-100 AJ. Generation of the second harmonic at 532 nm in KTP crystal results in conversion efficiencies greater than 40%. Using the frequency-doubled TEMoo output of the regenerative amplifier to pump a two-pass dye amplifier, we have amplified the 50-fs output pulses from an antiresonant ring dye laser to the 200-nJ level and have successfully produced a stable whitelight continuum at a 100-kHz repetition rate. This preliminary demonstration of synchronous dye-laser amplification and continuum generation attests to the overall quality of the regenerative amplifier output and the general utility of this approach for high-repetition-rate amplification. Limitations of the current regenerative amplifier design and scaling to higher pulse energies are briefly discussed.

We report on the design of a synchronously pumped dye laser using the hybrid mode -locking technique to generate subpicosecond pulses. A detailed description of the optical cavity is given. Pumped by the second harmonic pulse train from a CW mode -locked Nd: YAG laser, the dye laser has produced pulses as short as .6 psec (FWHM of the autocorrelation trace) in the R6G and styryl 9 frequency range. The efficiency of the DODO and IR 140 dyes used as saturable absorbers is discussed. The problems associated with the design of a dye laser synchronously pumped by the second harmonic train of a mode -locked, Q-switched Nd: YAG laser are examined. We report on a dye laser which has produced as much as 50 uJ in a single pulse.