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We have developed a simplified version of the side-pumped pulsed dye laser which has a spectral halfwidth of 1.25 GHz and a peak power of 10 kW at 600 nm. The basic laser consists of only four components (output mirror, dye cell, diffraction grating, and tuning mirror) and is exceptionally easy to align. Since the beam expander has been eliminated, the laser cavity can be made quite compact. Under the condition of reduced gain, the laser has been operated in a single mode.

We describe a geometry that allows for the single-mode scanning of lasers that use a diffraction grating as the dispersive element. It is observed that under the right conditions a rotation of the tuning element can provide changes simultaneously in cavity length and diffraction angle that exactly match the requirements needed for continuous single-mode scanning. As a case study, the method is applied to the grazing-incidence pulsed dye laser.