Abstract
Spatial solitons can affect and enhance random lasing in optically-pumped dyedoped nematic liquid crystals. Upon launching two collinear beams in the sample, the first to pump the fluorescent guest molecules and the second to induce a reorientational soliton, strikingly the second beam not only guides the emitted photons in the soliton waveguide, but also enhances the lasing efficiency and modulates its spectral width. By altering the scattering paths of the emitted photons, the soliton also contributes to the selection of the lasing modes, as further confirmed by the observed kinks in the input/output characteristics. These experimental results demonstrate that random lasing can be efficiently controlled by a light beam which does not interact with the gain molecules, opening a route towards light-controlled random lasers.
Highlights
Random lasing occurs when disorder in an optically amplifying medium provides multiple scattering events for emitted light, such that the resulting photon paths allow for amplification and stimulated emission, even in the absence of an actual cavity [1]
random lasing (RL) can be obtained in nematic liquid crystals (NLC) by doping them with a pump-resonant active dye, as demonstrated in various systems [9, 22]
We co-launched two co-planar beams sharing one and the same direction of their Poynting vectors in the medium, an ordinary (o-) polarized pump and an e-wave nematicon (NIR), adjusting their waists and tilt in order to maximize the overlap between the emitted fluorescent light and the green pump within the graded-index waveguide formed by the NIR soliton
Summary
Random lasing occurs when disorder in an optically amplifying medium provides multiple scattering events for emitted light, such that the resulting photon paths allow for amplification and stimulated emission, even in the absence of an actual cavity [1]. "Spatial confinement of laser light in active random media," Phys. "Random lasing and weak localization of light in dye-doped nematic liquid crystals," Opt. Express 14 (17), 7737–7744 (2006).
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