Operating Characteristics of High-Order Distributed Feedback Polymer Lasers

Detailed Photophysical Studies of Poly(9,9-di-(2-ethylhexyl)-9-H-fluorene-2,7-vinylene) in Liquid Media and Thin Films

For the present work, solvent (toluene, o-xylene, chloroform, chlorobenzene, and 1,2-dichloroethane) and concentration-dependent (∼10^-6-10^-3 g ml^-1) photophysical properties of poly(9,9-di-(2-ethylhexyl)-9-H-fluorene-2,7-vinylene) (PEFV) were investigated in detail in liquid media as well as thin films. Also, temperature-dependent (3-60 ^oC) fluorescence emission measurements of PEFV were conducted in liquid media. The steady-state and time-resolved data indicate the existence of weak interchain interaction in liquid media at high concentration. However, both ground-state aggregation and interchain interaction are present for PEFV in thin film. The interchain interaction plays a dominant role on the fluorescence emission of PEFV in thin film on the red side of the spectra.

Plasmonic distributed feedback lasing in an anodic aluminum oxide/silver/polymer hybrid membrane

A hybrid membrane is employed as a high-order plasmonic distributed feedback (DFB) cavity to reduce the lasing threshold of polymer lasers. The hybrid membrane consists of an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane, a 25 nm thick silver layer and a free-standing polymer membrane. The AAO membrane is fabricated by a low-cost, single chemical etching method. Then, a layer of silver with a thickness of 25 nm is sputtered on the surface of the AAO. Subsequently, a polymer membrane is directly attached to the silver-plated AAO membrane, forming an AAO/silver/polymer hybrid membrane. Under optical pumping conditions, low-threshold, three-order DFB lasing is observed. The proposed laser device exhibited a dual-threshold characteristic because of the evolution from amplified spontaneous emission to DFB lasing. And a significant shift from omnidirectional emission to directional emission lasing can be observed while the pump energy density is beyond the second threshold. Furthermore, the plasmonic enhancement sourced from silver corrugation reveals important improvement effects to the DFB lasing of AAO/silver/polymer hybrid membrane for decreasing threshold, narrowing full width at half maximum (FWHM), and an increasing Q factor. This work may promote the design and production of low-cost and large-area high-order plasmonic DFB polymer lasers.

Single-Mode Lasing in Polymer Circular Gratings

In recent years, conjugated polymers have become the materials of choice to fabricate optoelectronic devices, owing to their properties of high absorbance, high quantum efficiency, and wide luminescence tuning ranges. The efficient feedback mechanism in the concentric ring resonator and its circularly symmetric periodic geometry combined with the broadband photoluminescence spectrum of the conjugated polymer can generate a highly coherent output beam. Here, the detailed design of the ultralow-threshold single-mode circular distributed feedback polymer laser is presented with combined fabrication processes such as electron beam lithography and the spin-coating technique. We observe from the extinction spectra of the circular gratings that the transverse electric mode shows no change with the increase of incident beam angle. The strong enhancement of the conjugated polymer photoluminescence spectra with the circular periodic resonator can reduce the lasing threshold about 19 µJ/cm2. A very thin polymer film of about 110 nm is achieved with the spin-coating technique. The thickness of the gain medium can support only the zero-order transverse electric lasing mode. We expect that such a low threshold lasing device can find application in optoelectronic devices.

Distributed feedback organic lasing in photonic crystals

Considerable research efforts have been devoted to the investigation of distributed feedback (DFB) organic lasing in photonic crystals in recent decades. It is still a big challenge to realize DFB lasing in complex photonic crystals. This review discusses the recent progress on the DFB organic laser based on one-, two-, and three-dimensional photonic crystals. The photophysics of gain materials and the fabrication of laser cavities are also introduced. At last, future development trends of the lasers are prospected.

Controlling the Performance of Polymer Lasers via the Cavity Coupling

The polarization and threshold of distributed feedback (DFB) polymer lasers were controlled by adjusting the cavity coupling. The cavity of DFB polymer lasers consisted of two gratings, which was fabricated by a two-beam multi-exposure holographic technique. The coupling strength of the cavity modes was tuned by changing the angle between the two gratings. The threshold of the polymer lasers decreased with reducing the coupling strength of the cavity modes. A minimum threshold was observed at the lowest coupling strength. Moreover, the azimuthally polarized output of the polymer lasers was modified by changing the cavity coupling. These results may provide additional perspectives to improve the performance of DFB polymer lasers.