| Abstract: | A very compact explosive vapor sensor is demonstrated based on a distributed feedback polymer laser pumped by a commercial InGaN light‐emitting diode. The laser shows a two‐stage turn on of the laser emission, for pulsed drive currents above 15.7 A. The ‘double‐threshold’ phenomenon is attributed to the slow rise of the ∼30 ns duration LED pump pulses. The laser emits a 533 nm pulsed output beam of ∼10 ns duration perpendicular to the polymer film. When exposed to nitroaromatic model explosive vapors at ∼8 ppb concentration, the laser shows a 46% change in the surface‐emitted output under optimized LED excitation. |
