Towards Highly Efficient Polymer Fiber Laser Sources for Integrated Photonic Sensors

Simon Spelthann,Florian Jakobs,Hans-Hermann Johannes,Wolfgang Kowalsky,Detlev Ristau,Axel Ruehl,Jana Kielhorn,Stefanie Unland,Dietmar Kracht,Pen Yiao Ang,Joerg Neumann,Jonas Thiem

doi:10.3390/s20154086

Abstract

Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) devices combining microfluidic analyte provision with integrated optical analysis are highly desirable for several applications in biological or medical sciences. While the microfluidic approach is already broadly addressed, some work needs to be done regarding the integrated optics, especially provision of highly integrable laser sources. Polymer optical fiber (POF) lasers represent an alignment-free, rugged, and flexible technology platform. Additionally, POFs are intrinsically compatible to polymer microfluidic devices. Home-made Rhodamine B (RB)-doped POFs were characterized with experimental and numerical parameter studies on their lasing potential. High output energies of 1.65 mJ, high slope efficiencies of , and -lifetimes of ≥900 k shots were extracted from RB:POFs. Furthermore, RB:POFs show broad spectral tunability over several tens of nanometers. A route to optimize polymer fiber lasers is revealed, providing functionality for a broad range of LoC devices. Spectral tunability, high efficiencies, and output energies enable a broad field of LoC applications.

Highlights

Sensors for biological or medical sciences are often bulky and complex, especially optical analysis techniques, which usually consist of several distinct devices, like lasers, optical components, and the analysis platform
We present experimental and numerical studies on the optimization of Polymer optical fiber (POF) lasers using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) doped with Rhodamine B (RB)
The tuning range is approximately 28 nm for the range of doping concentrations considered and 9 nm within one doping concentration when changing the reflectivity of the output coupler. These results show one opportunity to tune the wavelength of our RB:POF lasers that can be used to extend the functionality and field of applications [22,23,24]

Summary

Introduction

Sensors for biological or medical sciences are often bulky and complex, especially optical analysis techniques, which usually consist of several distinct devices, like lasers, optical components, and the analysis platform. As a consequence, such devices are complex to operate and maintain and expensive. For spectroscopic approaches, e.g., in point-of-care testing, it is highly desirable to provide cheap, small, and easy to use and fabricate devices These requirements have been approached by Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) devices, e.g., miniaturized gas chromatography systems, holding promising potential for the rapid analysis on a compact and fully integrable platform [1,2,3]. LoC approaches is mandatory to fulfill the requirements for modern optical analysis techniques [2,4].

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