Continuous Operation of Monolithic Organic Lasers with No Dye Circulation

Technology

The proposed CW organic lasers comprise of a resonant cavity, an organic dye medium electromagnetically coupled to the cavity, and an optical pump source that stimulates emission of a continuous-wave beam. Suitable organic dye media are of the cynanine and merocynanine class, comprising liquids and solids at varying concentrations. These dye concentrations generate continuous wave output beams that can be tuned to a specific amplitude or wavelength region for lasing. In addition, the organic gain medium includes one or more quenchers that improves CW lasing by limiting or reducing absorption of the pump beam.  

Problem Addressed  

Organic dye lasers have attractive features, such as low-cost processing, flexible choice of substrates, and emission cross-sections. While optically pumped organic lasers are feasible, lasing is only possible with high peak power excitation sources of short pulses. As a result, there has been no realization of continuous wave (CW) operated organic lasers without liquid dye circulation. Conventional dye lasers have high, hard to attain thresholds due to large losses at the electrical contacts and low charge carrier mobility in organic materials.  

Advantages      

• Enhanced wavelength-specific CW lasing via the cynanine/merocynanine dye class and quenchers
• Lower operating temperature enabled through a reduced pump beam intensity
• Stationary organic dye medium and pump beam removes the need for moving parts  

Publications

Modeling of Threshold and Dynamics Behavior of Organic Nanostructured Lasers. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2, no. 1 (January 2, 2014): 94-102.