Organic solid-state lasers with imprinted gratings on plastic substrates

Abstract

Optically pumped laser emission has been observed from thin films of 8-hydroxyquinolinato aluminum (Alq) doped with a DCM dye deposited on a diffraction grating formed by imprinting a film of BCB with a mold. The BCB film, which is 4 μm thick, is deposited on a silicon or a flexible plastic substrate. Laser emission occurs at a wavelength near 655 nm which corresponds to the third order of the grating, which has a periodicity of ∼0.6 μm.