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Dye-Doped, Polymer-Nanoparticle Gain Media for Tunable Solid-State Lasers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

F. J. Duarte  and
R. O. James
F. J. Duarte
Affiliation:
Eastman Kodak Company, R& D Laboratories, Rochester, New York 14650, U.S.A.
R. O. James
Affiliation:
792 Oakridge Dr., Rochester, NY 14617, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Tunable laser action, in the visible spectrum, has been established using dye-doped, polymer-silica nanoparticle gain media. The silica nanoparticles, averaging about 12 nm in diameter, appear to be uniformly dispersed in the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix, since the optical homogeneity of the gain medium is maintained. Using rhodamine 6G dye and 30% weight-by-weight (w/w) silica nanoparticles, laser action was established in the 567–603 nm range. At the peak wavelength (λ ∼ 580 nm) laser conversion efficiency is ∼63% at a beam divergence of 1.9 mrad (∼1.3 times the diffraction limit). The new solid-state nanocomposite gain media also exhibits a reduction in |∂n/∂T| because the thermo-optic coefficient of silica is opposite in sign to that of the PMMA polymer-host component.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 817: Symposium L – New Materials for Microphotonics , 2004 , L7.5
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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