Mirrorless lasing in liquid crystalline materials

Wenyi Cao; Heino Finkelmann; Seok-Tae Kim; Antonio Munoz; Peter Palffy-Muhoray; Bahman Taheri; Robert J. Twieg

doi:10.1117/12.470459

13 June 2002 Mirrorless lasing in liquid crystalline materials

Wenyi Cao, Heino Finkelmann, Seok-Tae Kim, Antonio Munoz, Peter Palffy-Muhoray, Bahman Taheri, Robert J. Twieg

Proceedings Volume 4642, Organic Photonic Materials and Devices IV; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.470459
Event: Symposium on Integrated Optoelectronic Devices, 2002, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Cholesteric liquid crystals, because of their birefringence and periodic structure, and 1-d photonic band-gap materials. In the reflection band, classical light propagation is forbidden for one of the two eigenmodes; for this mode, the material acts as a distributed cavity host. This inherent distributed cavity effect modifies the fluorescence spectrum, and, if the material is optically pumped, allows population inversion and mirrorless lasing. We have studied emission from thin samples of liquid crystalline materials optically pumped by pico- and nanosecond laser pulses. We have observed laser emission, without an external cavity, from dye-doped liquid crystals, from pure cholesteric liquid crystals without dyes, and from cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers. We present the results of these experiments, discuss the relation between material properties and the lasing process, and consider promising materials and applications.

Citation Download Citation

Wenyi Cao, Heino Finkelmann, Seok-Tae Kim, Antonio Munoz, Peter Palffy-Muhoray, Bahman Taheri, and Robert J. Twieg "Mirrorless lasing in liquid crystalline materials", Proc. SPIE 4642, Organic Photonic Materials and Devices IV, (13 June 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.470459

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available