Taming of random lasers

Random lasers 1 are fascinating devices due to the absence of a conventional cavity structure and their counterintuitive lasing mechanism. However, they are also notorious for their unpredictability. Despite their many unusual properties 2 – 5 , random lasers are unlikely to achieve the ubiquitous a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature photonics 2019-07, Vol.13 (7), p.445-448
Main Authors: Lee, Myungjae, Callard, Ségolène, Seassal, Christian, Jeon, Heonsu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
142/126
639/624/1020/1093
639/624/400/1021
Applied and Technical Physics
Controllability
Crystals
Eigenvectors
Engineering Sciences
Lasers
Lasing
Letter
Micro and nanotechnologies
Microelectronics
Optics
Photonic
Photonic crystals
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Physics
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Summary:Random lasers 1 are fascinating devices due to the absence of a conventional cavity structure and their counterintuitive lasing mechanism. However, they are also notorious for their unpredictability. Despite their many unusual properties 2 – 5 , random lasers are unlikely to achieve the ubiquitous acceptance of conventional lasers unless the underlying lasing mechanisms that govern their operation are thoroughly understood and their exotic properties are appropriately regulated. Recent demonstrations of localized random lasers are considered a breakthrough in the field because structural disorders were engineered in a top-down manner 6 – 8 . Nevertheless, the origin of the lasing phenomenon and the controllability of these devices have not been adequately addressed. Lately, we have experimentally proven that photonic band-tail eigenstates—manifestations of photonic Anderson localizations—are responsible for random lasing in a compositionally disordered photonic crystal platform 9 . Herein, we demonstrate that the process of governing the band-tail states offers a unique opportunity to finally regulate random lasers. It is possible to regulate random lasers by controlling and manipulating their properties, including the number and spatial positions of their lasing modes, and the lasing wavelength and the modal size over wide ranges. Performances comparable with non-random optical cavities with 2D photonic crystals are reported.
ISSN:1749-4885
1749-4893
DOI:10.1038/s41566-019-0407-5