No Arabic abstract
Lasers based on biological materials are attracting an increasing interest in view of their use in integrated and transient photonics. DNA as optical biopolymer in combination with highly-emissive dyes has been reported to have excellent potential in this respect, however achieving miniaturized lasing systems based on solid-state DNA shaped in different geometries to confine and enhance emission is still a challenge, and physico-chemical mechanisms originating fluorescence enhancement are not fully understood. Herein, a class of wavelength-tunable lasers based on DNA nanofibers is demonstrated, for which optical properties are highly controlled through the system morphology. A synergistic effect is highlighted at the basis of lasing action. Through a quantum chemical investigation, we show that the interaction of DNA with the encapsulated dye leads to hindered twisting and suppressed channels for the non-radiative decay. This is combined with effective waveguiding, optical gain, and tailored mode confinement to promote morphologically-controlled lasing in DNA-based nanofibers. The results establish design rules for the development of bright and tunable nanolasers and optical networks based on DNA nanostructures.
We report laser emission from single, stationary, Rhodamine B-doped glycerol/water microdroplets located on a superhydrophobic surface. In the experiments, a pulsed, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 nm was used as the excitation source. The microdroplets ranged in diameter from a few to 20 um. Lasing was achieved in the red-shifted portion of the dye emission spectrum with threshold fluences as low as 750 J/cm2. Photobleaching was observed when the microdroplets were pumped above threshold. In certain cases, multimode lasing was also observed and attributed to the simultaneous lasing of two modes belonging to different sets of whispering gallery modes.
We report an experimental demonstration of thermal tuning of resonance frequency in a planar terahertz metamaterial consisting of a gold split-ring resonator array fabricated on a bulk single crystal strontium titanate (SrTiO3) substrate. Cooling the metamaterial starting from 409 K down to 150 K causes about 50% shift in resonance frequency as compare to its room temperature resonance, and there is very little variation in resonance strength. The resonance shift is due to the temperature-dependent refractive index (or the dielectric constant) of the strontium titanate. The experiment opens up avenues for designing tunable terahertz devices by exploiting the temperature sensitive characteristic of high dielectric constant substrates and complex metal oxide materials.
In the presence of Rashba-Dresselhaus coupling, strong spin-orbit interactions in liquid crystal optical cavities result in a distinctive spin-split entangled dispersion. Spin coherence between such modes give rise to an optical persistent-spin-helix. In this letter, we introduce optical gain in such a system, by dispersing a molecular dye in a liquid-crystal microcavity. We demonstrate both lasing in the Rashba-Dresselhaus regime and the emergence of an optical persistent spin helix.
Using a pair of coupled LRC cavities we experimentally demonstrate that instabilities and amplification action can be tamed by a spatially inhomogenous gain. Specifically we observe the counter-intuitive phenomenon of stabilization of the system even when the overall gain provided is increased. This behavior is directly related to lasing death via asymmetric pumping, recently proposed in [M. Liertzer {it et al}., Phys. Rev. Lett. {bf 108}, 173901 (2012)]. The stability analysis of other simple systems reveals the universal nature of the lasing death phenomenon.
Periodic arrays of air nanoholes in thin metal films that support surface plasmon resonances can provide an alternative approach for boosting the light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. Indeed, nanohole arrays have garnered great interest in recent years for their use in biosensing, light emission enhancement and spectroscopy. However, the large-scale use of nanohole arrays in emerging technology requires new low-cost fabrication techniques. Here, we demonstrate a simple technique to fabricate nanohole arrays and examine their photonic applications. In contrast to the complicated and most commonly used electron beam lithography technique, hexagonal arrays of nanoholes are fabricated by using a simple combination of shadowing nanosphere lithography technique and electron beam deposition. These arrays are shown to offer enhancements in the lasing emission of an organic dye liquid gain medium with a quality factor above 150. Additionally, a 7-fold increase in Purcell factor is observed for CdSe quantum dot-integrated nanohole arrays.