A nano-patterned photonic crystal laser with a dye-doped liquid crystal

Ko, DH and Morris, SM and Lorenz, A and Castles, F and Butt, H and Gardiner, DJ and Qasim, MM and Wallikewitz, B and Hands, PJW and Wilkinson, TD and Amaratunga, GAJ and Coles, HJ and Friend, RH (2013) A nano-patterned photonic crystal laser with a dye-doped liquid crystal. Applied Physics Letters, 103. ISSN 0003-6951

Abstract

Covering a nano-patterned titanium dioxide photonic crystal (PC) within a well-oriented film of dye-doped liquid crystal (LC), a distributed feedback laser is constructed whereby the emission characteristics can be manipulated in-situ using an electric field. This hybrid organic-inorganic structure permits simultaneous selectivity of both the beam pattern and laser wavelength by electrical addressing of the LC director. In addition, laser emission is obtained both in the plane and normal to the PC. Along with experimental data, a theoretical model is presented that is based upon an approximate calculation of the band structure of this birefringent, tuneable laser device. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.