Near-Infrared Optical Gain and Lasing in Luminescent Polymeric Microrijngs
Martin Djiango, Takeyuki Kobayashi, Grace Jordan and Werner J. Blau
We demonstrate laser emission in plastic microrings containing a near-infrared-emitting dye, 2-(6-(4-Dimethylaminophenyl)-2,4-neopentylene-1,3,5-hexatrienyl)-3-methyl-benzothiazolium perchlorat. We fabricate our poly(1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)-based microrings doped with 0.5 wt % of the dye. They exhibit lasing at around 840 nm under transverse nanosecond photoexcitation at 532 nm. Optical feedback is provided by total internal reflection. The threshold for lasing is found to be 311 µJ/cm2. The cavity has a Q-factor larger than 2000, which is limited by the resolution of our detection system.