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Optofluidic laser array based on stable high-Q Fabry-Pérot microcavities
Wenjie Wang1, Chunhua Zhou, Tingting Zhang
1Key Lab of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, 79 Yingze Street, Taiyuan 030024, PR China. wangwenjie@tyut.edu.cn.
Lab on a Chip
|August 26, 2015
Summary
We developed a novel optofluidic laser array using stable plano-concave microcavities. This design significantly reduces optical misalignment and achieves an ultralow lasing threshold for advanced on-chip photonic devices.
Area of Science:
- Optofluidics
- Photonics
- Laser Technology
Background:
- Optofluidic lasers offer potential for miniaturized photonic devices.
- Conventional plano-plano Fabry-Pérot (FP) microcavities are susceptible to optical misalignment.
- High Q-factors and low lasing thresholds are crucial for advanced applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a stable optofluidic laser array on a chip.
- To improve the performance of optofluidic lasers by utilizing plano-concave FP microcavities.
- To demonstrate ultralow lasing thresholds and simultaneous multi-laser emission.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of plano-concave FP microcavities on a fused silica chip using CO2 laser ablation to create microwells.
- Coating of distributed Bragg reflection (DBR) layers onto the microcavities.
- Testing with R6G dye in ethanol to measure Q-factor, finesse, and lasing threshold.
Main Results:
- Achieved a Q-factor of 5.6 × 10^5 and finesse of 4 × 10^3 in plano-concave FP microcavities.
- Demonstrated an ultralow lasing threshold of 90 nJ mm^-2, over 10 times lower than plano-plano cavities.
- Successfully showed simultaneous laser emission from the array and single-mode lasing operation.
Conclusions:
- The developed optofluidic laser array with plano-concave FP microcavities offers superior stability and performance.
- This technology enables the creation of novel on-chip photonic devices with significantly reduced lasing thresholds.
- The findings pave the way for advanced optofluidic laser-based biochemical sensors.
