The spectroscopic and lasing characteristics of a series of 308 nm pumped p-oligophenylenes with five or
more phenyl rings have been studied. Quantitative comparisons of the absorption spectra of these dyes
with numerous other dyes in this class of compounds can be made by defining a parameter, theta, as the
sum of the number of phenyl rings and the number of ring-bridges. Statistically good linear regressions
result from the correlations of molar extinction with theta and from wavelength of absorbance with the
reciprocal of theta. We find that these correlations provide good predictive information in deciding which
dyes to attempt to synthesize for testing. The lasing characteristics of the dyes studied show that these
dyes are amongst the best dyes in this class of dyes. Some of these dyes have exceptionally long lifetimes
coupled with acceptable conversion efficiencies.
New photostable UV laser dyes
