Sixteen new IR laser dyes

Sixteen new IR laser dyes are reported. All lased successfully under excitation from a simple linear flashlamp of about 700-ns rise time. Untuned lasing wavelengths ranged from 810 to 972 nm. Laser output pulse energies from the four best of these dyes were 5-15 times greater than from diethylthiatricarbocyanine iodide (DTTC), with peak output of about 50 mJ obtained from 128-J excitation. Solvent effects with four selected laser dyes are also discussed.