Electrically controlled random lasing from dye-doped nematic liquid crystals containing Ag nanoparticles within thin in-plane switching cells

Abstract

Electrically controlled random lasing from dye-doped nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) containing Ag nanoparticles (NPs) within thin in-plane switching (IPS) cells is investigated. As far as we know, this study reports for the first time on random lasing using the IPS cell. Because of the Ag NPs’ presence, it is possible for the random lasers to occur in the thin IPS cells. The lasing output intensity depends on the applied electric field on the IPS cell when the pump energy is held constant. As the electric field intensity increases from 0 V µm−1 to 0.50 V µm−1, the output intensity increases gradually. However, as the electric field intensity increases from 0.5 V µm−1 to 1.00 V µm−1, the output intensity decreases gradually. At last, when the electric field intensity increases from 1.00 V µm−1 to 1.67 V µm−1, the emission intensity is basically stable. The variation in the output intensity can be partially attributed to the change in the NLC director distribution under the action of the electric field. This feature can be used to design adjustable light intensity devices.