A coupled cavity micro-fluidic dye ring laser

Abstract

We present a laterally emitting, coupled cavity micro-fluidic dye ring laser, suitable for integration into lab-on-a-chip micro-systems. The micro-fluidic laser has been successfully designed, fabricated, characterized and modelled. The resonator is formed by a micro-fluidic channel bounded by two isosceles triangle mirrors. The micro-fluidic laser structure is defined using photo lithography in 10 μm thick SU-8 polymer on a glass substrate. The micro-fluidic channel is sealed by a glass lid, using PMMA adhesive bonding. The laser is characterized using the laser dye Rhodamine 6G dissolved in ethanol or ethylene glycol as the active gain medium, which is pumped through the micro-fluidic channel and laser resonator. The dye laser is optically pumped normal to the chip plane at 532 nm by a pulsed, frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser and lasing is observed with a threshold pump pulse energy flux of around 55 μJ/mm 2. The lasing is multi-mode, and the laser has switchable output coupling into an integrated polymer planar waveguide. Tuning of the lasing wavelength is feasible by changing the dye/solvent properties.