1. Competitive excitation and osmotic-pressure-mediated control of lasing modes in cholesteric liquid crystal microshells
- Author
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Chaoyong James Yang, Sen-Sen Li, Ling-Li Gong, Zhiping Cai, Ya-Li Lin, Cheng-Xu Chu, Kai-Jun Che, and Lujian Chen
- Subjects
Beam diameter ,Materials science ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,business.industry ,Cholesteric liquid crystal ,Whispering gallery ,Capillary action ,Microfluidics ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,Optics ,Osmotic pressure ,Optoelectronics ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Lasing threshold ,Excitation - Abstract
We examined the end-pumped lasing behaviors of dye doped cholesteric liquid crystal (DDCLC) microshells which were fabricated by glass capillary microfluidics. Several kinds of mode resonances, including distributed feedback, Fabry–Perot (FP), and whispering gallery (WG) modes, can be robustly constructed in each individual DDCLC microshell by varying the beam diameter, namely, tuning the DDCLC gain area. The FP and WG modes were further confirmed experimentally, and the corresponding lasing mechanisms are clearly revealed from the unique material characteristics of DDCLC and the geometrical structure of the microshell. Additionally, we demonstrated that the osmotic pressure can be used to shrink/expand the microshell, productively tuning the excitation of lasing modes in a controlled manner. We wish our findings can provide a new insight into the design of DDCLC microlasers with tunable optical properties.
- Published
- 2017
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