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This article assembles a distributed feedback (DFB) cavity on the sidewalls of the optical fiber by using very simple fabrication techniques including two-beam interference lithography and dip-coating. The DFB laser structure comprises graduated gratings on the optical fiber sidewalls which are covered with a layer of colloidal quantum dots. Directional DFB lasing is observed from the fiber facet due to the coupling effect between the grating and the optical fiber. The directional lasing from the optical fiber facet exhibits a small solid divergence angle as compared to the conventional laser. It can be attributed to the two-dimensional light confinement in the fiber waveguide. An analytical approach based on the Bragg condition and the coupled-wave theory was developed to explain the characteristics of the laser device. The intensity of the output coupled laser is tuned by the coupling coefficient, which is determined by the angle between the grating vector and the fiber axis. These results afford opportunities to integrate different DFB lasers on the same optical fiber sidewall, achieving multi-wavelength self-aligned DFB lasers for a directional emission. The proposed technique may provide an alternative to integrating DFB lasers for applications in networking, optical sensing, and power delivery.

Recently, wearable sensor technology has drawn attention to many health-related appliances due to its varied existing optical, electrical, and mechanical applications. Similarly, we have designed a simple and cheap lift-off fabrication technique for the realization of large-area biocompatible random lasers to customize wearable sensors. A large-area random microcavity comprises a matrix element polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in which rhodamine B (RhB, which acts as a gain medium) and gold nanorods (Au NRs, which offer plasmonic feedback) are incorporated via a spin-coating technique. In regards to the respective random lasing device residing on a heterogenous film (area > 100 cm2), upon optical excitation, coherent random lasing with a narrow linewidth (~0.4 nm) at a low threshold (~23 μJ/cm2 per pulse) was successfully attained. Here, we maneuvered the mechanical flexibility of the device to modify the spacing between the feedback agents (Au NRs), which tuned the average wavelength from 612.6 to 624 nm under bending while being a recoverable process. Moreover, the flexible film can potentially be used on human skin such as the finger to serve as a motion and relative-humidity sensor. This work demonstrates a designable and simple method to fabricate a large-area biocompatible random laser for wearable sensing.

Among the efforts to improve the performances of microlasers, optimization of the gain properties and cavity parameters of these lasers has attracted significant attention recently. Distributed feedback lasers, as one of the most promising candidate technologies for electrically pumped microlasers, can be combined with dual-gratings. This combination provides additional freedom for the design of the laser cavity. Here, a holographic dual-grating is designed to improve the distributed feedback laser performance. The holographic dual-grating laser consists of a colloidal quantum dot film with two parallel gratings, comprising first-order (210 nm) and second-order (420 nm) gratings that can be fabricated easily using a combination of spin coating and interference lithography. The feedback and the output from the cavity are controlled using the first-order grating and the second-order grating, respectively. Through careful design and analysis of the dual-grating, a balance is achieved between the feedback and the cavity output such that the lasing threshold based on the dual-grating is nearly half the threshold of conventional distributed feedback lasers. Additionally, the holographic dual-grating laser shows a high level of stability because of the high stability of the colloidal quantum dots against photobleaching.