Whispering-gallery mode lasing from polymer microsphere for humidity sensing

Microlasers based on high quality(Q) whispering-gallery mode(WGM) resonance are promising low threshold laser sources for bio-sensing and imaging applications. In this Letter, dye-doped polymer microspheres were fabricated by a controlling emulsion solvent evaporation method. WGM lasing with low threshold and high Q factors was realized in an individual microsphere under femtosecond laser pumping. The slight change of environmental relative humidity(RH) can be monitored by measuring the shift of the lasing modes at the exposure of water molecules, which demonstrates the sensitivity is as high as 6 pm/RH%. The results would offer an insight into employing microlasers as sensors.     

轴向隐失波激励的回音壁模式光纤激光器

采用轴向隐失波激励增益的方式,使激光增益区域局限在光纤回音壁模式的模场区域内,显著地降低了回音壁模式光纤激光辐射的抽运阈值,由此形成一种低阈值的回音壁模式光纤激光器.在微焦耳量级的低抽运能量条件下,用回音壁模式光纤激光器研究了激光染料的浓度效应.实验结果表明,随着激光染料浓度的增加,回音壁模式激光辐射的波长向长波方向移动,激光波长范围变宽.用回音壁模式染料激光的四能级模型得到激光上能级和所有能级上的分子数比值γ(λ)曲线后,很好地解释了实验结果.低抽运阈值的回音壁模式光纤激光器,为研究液体激光现象提供了极为便利的手段.     

Characteristics of whispering-gallery-mode dye lasers utilizing dye-doped solid microspheres by UV N2-laser pumping

The characteristics of a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) dye laser using a variety of dye-doped solid microspheres, pumped by a UV N₂-laser, are presented. Experimental results for the WGM dye laser are presented with the spatial distribution and spectral and temporal responses of lasing. The spectral response of a new variety of WGM dye laser is in the blue-green or red spectral regions, and over a wide spectral range.     

Cavity-Q-driven phenomena in an evanescent-wave pumped and gain coupled whispering-gallery-mode fiber laser

We study cavity-Q-driven lasing wavelength shift and line-width widening in an evanescent-wave pumped and gain coupled Whispering-Gallery-Mode (WGM) fiber lasers. A bare optical fiber is immersed in a lower refractive index (RI) dye solution, pumped and gain coupled by evanescence waves, and linearly polarized WGM lasing emission is observed from the rim of the fiber. We find that both lasing wavelengths and line width of WGM peaks are sensitive to the RI of the dye solution and the fiber diameter, with the increase of the RI of the dye solution or decrease of the fiber diameter, a blue shift of the lasing spectrum and a widening on the spectral line width are observed. The observed phenomena have been attributed to the change of quality factor of a circular cavity built in the fiber cross section, the achieved experimental data agree well with the calculated values of the quality factor.     

偏斜光线抽运下的回音壁模式光纤激光辐射特性

研究了偏斜光线抽运下的回音壁模式光纤激光辐射特性.实验发现,在抽运光以偏斜光线方式沿光纤的近轴向抽运时,回音壁模式的光纤激光辐射中,既存在光电矢量和光纤径向垂直的横电波(TE),也存在光电矢量和光纤径向平行的横磁波(TM);随增益包层染料溶液折射率的增加,径向模式数和角模式数相同的TE波和TM波之间的波长差单调减小,回音壁模式激光辐射的中心波长向短波方向移动,辐射的波长范围变窄.用回音壁模式激光的辐射理论结合激光染料的四能级模型,满意地解释了实验结果.     

Whispering‐gallery mode lasing from patterned molecular single‐crystalline microcavity array

Organic single‐crystalline materials have attracted great attention for laser applications. However, the fabrication of laser resonators and pattern of crystals are still intractable problems. Organic single crystals have been limited to fundamental property studies despite their superior photonic characteristics. In this work, whispering‐gallery mode (WGM) resonators of BP1T and BP2T crystalline materials have been fabricated through a combination method with improved lithography and dry etching. Crystalline microresonators with different geometries over a large area are top‐down fabricated with submicrometer spatial resolution. WGM lasing oscillation from circular, hexagonal, pentagonal and square resonators is definitively observed. The BP1T and BP2T crystals are characterized with high refractive index, and stable lasing in aqueous solution is demonstrated besides in the air environment. It is expected that organic crystalline materials would be used for the practical applications in a variety of organic electronic and optical devices.     

Whispering gallery mode microlasers and refractive index sensing based on single polymer fiber

The realization of whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing in polymer fibers is hindered by an appropriate method to dissolve the polymer and the gain material. In this work, microfibers fabricated by directly drawing from a dye doped polymer solution are exhibited as high quality microlasers and microsensors. Multi‐mode and even single‐mode lasing is observed from the fiber under optical pumping at room temperature. The linewidth of lasing mode is narrower than 0.09 nm. The lasing mechanism is unambiguously verified by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis and ascribed to WGMs. Diameter‐ and polarization‐dependent lasing characteristics are systematically investigated, showing good agreement with the theoretical calculation. Particularly, application of the fiber laser for refractive index sensing based on resonant shift of lasing mode is demonstrated and the sensitivity up to about 300 nm/RIU is achieved. The promising potential of high quality polymer microfibers as optical sensors and multi‐function components for flexible photonic integrated systems is highly expected.     

Fabrication and characterization of spherical micro semiconductor crystals by laser ablation method

We have been establishing the technique of fabricating spherical semiconductor microcrystals with suitable diameters for whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing. Concretely, semiconductor microspheres were synthesized by ablating various semiconductor-sintered targets with focused pulsed laser at high fluences. In this report, dependences of fabricated zinc oxide (ZnO) microstructures on laser wavelengths were investigated. Lasing characteristics and photoluminescence of ZnO microspheres were determined, and photoluminescence of Sb-doped ZnO microspheres were determined. Additionally, it was also found that Sb-doped ZnO and aluminum nitride microspheres can be similarly synthesized. By developing this method, which does not require complex processing, it is expected that efforts in the application of WGM lasing are accelerated in many kinds of semiconductors.     

Linearly polarised three-colour lasing emission from an evanescent wave pumped and gain coupled fibre laser

A novel Whispering--Gallery--Mode (WGM) fibre laser, emitting linearly polarised three-colour light, is demonstrated by pumping and gain coupling with evanescent waves. The pump light is longitudinally coupled into a bare optical fibre immersed in a dye solution of lower refractive index. The dye molecules around the bare fibre are excited by the evanescent waves of pump light when they propagate along the fibre in a total internal reflection. When the pump beam within the fibre is a meridian beam, the WGM lasing emission from the fibre laser is a linearly polarised transverse electric wave, while it is a mixed wave of the linearly polarised transverse electric and magnetic waves if the pump beam is a skew beam within the fibre. Because the excited molecules are located within the evanescent field of WGM, a good spatial overlap between the dye gain and the evanescent field leads to a high pumping efficiency and a longer gain distance along the fibre. Once the bare fibre is inserted into three glass capillaries filled with Rhodamine 6G, 610 and 640 dye solutions, respectively, WGM laser oscillations at the wavelengths of 567--575, 605--614 and 656--666~nm occur simultaneously, and a linearly polarised three-colour lasing emission is achieved in a single optical fibre.     

Whispering gallery microcavity lasers

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical microresonators have attracted intense interests in the past decades. The combination of high quality factors (Q) and small mode volumes of modes in WGM resonators significantly enhances the light‐matter interactions, making them excellent cavities for achieving low threshold and narrow linewidth lasers. In this Review, the progress in WGM microcavity lasers is summarized, and the laser performance considering resonator geometries and materials as well as lasing mechanisms is discussed. Label‐free detection using WGM resonators has emerged as highly sensitive detection schemes. However, the resolution is mainly limited by the cavity Q factor which determines the mode linewidth. Microcavity lasers, due to their narrow laser spectral width, could greatly improve the detection resolution. Some recent developments in sensing using microcavity lasers are discussed.     

柱形微腔回音壁激光光谱模式的精确标定

由柱形微腔中回音壁模式满足的本征值方程,得到确定回音壁模式位置和间距的近似解析公式。以此近似解析公式,首次对直径在215～328 μm间的5个柱形微腔回音壁激光光谱做了模式标定。在用近似解析公式对柱形微腔激光光谱的数值作拟合的计算中,除了回音壁模的径向模式数(l)和角动量模式数(n)外无需其他拟合参数,解析公式的拟合值和实验激光光谱波长值间的偏差小于0.05 nm,拟合结果精确可靠。柱形微腔回音壁激光光谱模式的精确标定在模式的场分布计算以及频移型微腔生物传感器的研究应用中具有重要作用,文章介绍的方法亦可应用于柱形微腔直径和折射率的精密测量。     

Abnormal behaviour of one-dimensional photonic crystal with defect

The effect of introduction a defect in a conventional one-dimensional photonic band gap (PBG) structure in respect of the dispersion relation, reflectivity, group velocity and effective group index of such a structure has been studied. In particular, the dependence of various properties of such a structure on the angle of incidence of the electromagnetic waves has been given more importance in the present study. The study shows that inside the conventional PBG structure as well as defect PBG structure, the group velocity and effective group index become negative for certain ranges of normalized frequency. In a defect PBG structure, it is possible to achieve desired values (negative or positive) of group velocity and effective group index by choosing appropriate angle of incidence, whereas in conventional PBG structures, the maximum (negative and positive) values of group velocities and effective group index are found to be almost independent of the angle of incidence. This is a unique property of defect PBG structure which is different from the properties of conventional PBG structures. Because of this unique property, defect PBG structure may be widely used for construction super lenses, lasing without inversion and other optical systems in photonics.     

基于全息液晶/聚合物光栅的分布反馈式激光器的波长调谐特性研究

首先制备了不同周期的染料掺杂全息液晶/聚合物光栅并进行激光抽运实验, 得到了激光器的调谐曲线,确定了激光器在574 nm到685 nm的谱带里均可以实现激光输出, 即激光器具有110 nm左右的可调谐范围. 之后, 通过温控仪控制样品的温度, 对周期为610 nm的染料掺杂全息液晶/聚合物光栅进行激光抽运, 探测不同温度下的输出激光光谱, 观察到随着温度由20℃升高到65℃, 激光器的中心波长由627.9 nm减小到623 nm, 产生了4.9 nm的波长蓝移.     

ESR spectroscopy at 75 GHz by using a whispering gallery mode dielectric resonator and an electromagnet: Part I

Disc-shaped Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) dielectric resonators were used to obtain ESR spectra of powder samples at 75 GHz. A mechanically and electronically controlled Gunn diode was used while the static magnetic fieldB ₀ was obtained by modifying a Bruker electromagnet. WGM resonators having a diameter of 30 mm were prevalently used. The samples were contained in polyethylene holders suitably designed so that the resonator could retain its original circular symmetry and the sample could stay as close as possible to the curved outer rim of the resonator.Q-factors of the order of 10⁴ were obtained at room temperature when single crystal quartz was used for the disc resonator. Anyway, the value ofQ could be easily controlled by using different materials for the WGM disc. The gained experience allows one to foresee that WGM resonators can be used with similar results also at frequencies up to 150 and 300 GHz. ESR spectra of many organic and inorganic samples will be reported in Part II of this paper. Here, an evaluation is made of the intensity of the electromagnetic field on a selected sample. Suitable holders for liquid samples are under study.     

染料掺杂聚合物分散胆甾相液晶薄膜激光特性研究

采用激光染料DCM、向列相液晶TEB30A、手性剂S-811、聚乙烯醇(PVA), 通过微胶囊法制备了聚合物分散胆甾相液晶薄膜, 测量激光辐射谱, 研究了其激光辐射机理和温度调谐特性. 利用正交偏光显微镜观察器件织构, 看到液晶微滴分散均匀, 尺寸较大, 约为80 μm, 并且微滴中液晶分子呈现平面态排列织构. 以532 nm的Nd:YAG固体激光器作为抽运源, 测得在634.5 nm和680.2 nm波长处出现了尖锐的激光辐射峰, 线宽分别约为0.25 nm, 0.29 nm. 并与染料掺杂胆甾相液晶激光器件进行比较. 升高器件温度, 其输出激光波长蓝移, 获得666.7 nm至643.9 nm共22.8 nm的调谐范围. 由实验结果分析得出, 激光辐射机理为光子禁带末端激光, 出射波长分别对应光子禁带的两个边沿.     

Anomalous behavior of group velocity and index of refraction in a defect photonic band gap structure

In the present paper, we have made an analysis to observe the effect of introduction of defect on dispersion relation, group velocity, and effective group index in a conventional photonic band gap (PBG) structure. The study shows that inside the PBG materials group velocity and effective group index becomes negative in both types (conventional as well as defect PBG structure) of structure at a certain range of frequencies. Also, near the edges of the bands it attains very high values of index of refraction. A defect PBG structure gives a very unique feature that group velocity becomes exactly zero at a particular value of frequency and also becomes several hundred times greater than the velocity of light which is not attainable with the conventional PBG structure. Defect PBG structures with such peculiar characteristics are seen in lasing without inversion, in construction of perfect lens, in trapping of photon and other optical devices.     

回音壁模式光纤激光器的阈值特性研究

研究了一种新型光纤激光器——消逝波激励的回音壁模式光纤激光器的阈值特性.将不同直径的石英光纤分别浸入低折射率的罗丹明6G乙醇和乙二醇混合溶液中,采用沿光纤轴向光抽运消逝波激励染料增益的方式,发现回音壁模式光纤激光辐射的阈值能量和混合溶液的折射率存在不同的依赖关系.随折射率的增加,对小直径光纤,阈值能量随之增加;对大直径光纤,阈值能量单调缓慢递减;对直径适中的光纤,阈值能量先减后增,存在一个和最小阈值能量对应的最佳折射率.用消逝波激励的回音壁模式激光理论,导出了回音壁模式光纤激光的阈值能量公式.理论计算曲线 关键词： 光纤激光器 回音壁模式 激光阈值 消逝波     

染料掺杂液晶填充毛细管的激光发射特性研究

本文提出利用染料掺杂液晶填充PI光控取向膜毛细管获得可调谐激光.采用532 nm YAG倍频脉冲激光器抽运,实验及理论研究了有聚酰亚胺(PI)取向膜和无PI取向膜毛细管的激光发射特性,对比分析了两种情形的激光产生阈值以及随温度变化的特性.结果表明:经PI光控取向处理的染料掺杂胆甾相液晶毛细管的激光发射模式具有分布反馈模式和回音壁模式,同时,激光产生阈值为4.5 m J·mm~(-2);发现当温度升高时,发射光谱发生"蓝移",中心波长调谐范围为5.9 nm,温度升高到43℃时,形成质量非常好的回音壁模式,其自由光谱范围为1.05 nm.经PI光控取向处理的染料掺杂向列相液晶激光发射模式为随机激光,并且较无PI取向时激光发射峰减少.     

Optomechanical dynamics in detuned whispering-gallery modes cavity

The dynamics of a microresonator in detuned whispering-gallery modes (WGM) cavity opto-mechanical system are investigated by the quantum Langevin equation. A WGM cavity coupling to two parallel waveguides is devised to study the transmission and reflection of this system. In single mode WGM cavity, without optomechanical coupling, both the transmission and reflection of the cavity present a Lorentzian dip and peak. When the coupling between the cavity mode and mechanical mode is considered, the transmission and reflection of the optomechanical cavity show “W” and “M” shape mode splitting. Moreover, under the action of a controlling and a probe laser, the output field at the probe frequency presents electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like spectrum in the system. We give the physical origin of EIT-like and the pump-probe response for the WGM shares all the features of the Λ system in atoms. Further, due to backscattering, the two traveling waves in WGM are coupled with a rate γ. The transmission and reflection of the optomechanical cavity display three modes splitting in the spectra with optomechanical coupling between the two cavity modes and the mechanical mode.