Fluorescence and Lasing in Dye-doped 1D Graded Photonic Crystals

Photonic crystals exhibiting bandgaps in which
electromagnetic wave propagation is forbidden have
attracted much interest due to the potential that
they can manipulate photons in optical microdevices.
Their control on the photonic density of states has
a direct effect on the spontaneous emission of
photons, which is an important capability in optical
devices such as lasers and light emitting diodes.
This book presents the first-time realization of
lasing from dye-doped 1D graded photonic crystals in
dichromated gelatin fabricated using a two-beam
holographic interference. The graded layers,
obtained by differential swelling of the gelatin,
exhibited deep and wide photonic bandgaps despite
the low dielectric contrast of the gelatin.
Multimode lasing with both a low threshold and a
high quality factor was observed at the band edge of
the bandgap. This work leads to further study of
light localization and emission from 2D/3D periodic
and aperiodic active photonic bandgap structures
fabricated by different beam configurations using
holographic lithography and opens up new degrees of
freedom in the design of laser devices using
photonic crystals.

Autorentext

Kok received the M.Phil. degree in physics from the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2007, where he
is now a research assistant.
Lu received the M.S. degree from Peking University, China in

2003. He is now working towards the Ph.D. degree at HKUST.
      Their research interests include photonic crystals and
      nonlinear optics.

      Klappentext

      Photonic crystals exhibiting bandgaps in which
      electromagnetic wave propagation is forbidden have
      attracted much interest due to the potential that
      they can manipulate photons in optical microdevices.
      Their control on the photonic density of states has
      a direct effect on the spontaneous emission of
      photons, which is an important capability in optical
      devices such as lasers and light emitting diodes.
      This book presents the first-time realization of
      lasing from dye-doped 1D graded photonic crystals in
      dichromated gelatin fabricated using a two-beam
      holographic interference. The graded layers,
      obtained by differential swelling of the gelatin,
      exhibited deep and wide photonic bandgaps despite
      the low dielectric contrast of the gelatin.
      Multimode lasing with both a low threshold and a
      high quality factor was observed at the band edge of
      the bandgap. This work leads to further study of
      light localization and emission from 2D/3D periodic
      and aperiodic active photonic bandgap structures
      fabricated by different beam configurations using
      holographic lithography and opens up new degrees of
      freedom in the design of laser devices using
      photonic crystals.