Plasmonically enhanced diffusive and subdiffusive metal nanoparticle-dye random laser

Abstract

We report on surface plasmon (SP)-enhanced random laser emission from a suspension of silver nanoparticles in a laser dye operating at diffusive and subdiffusive scattering strengths. SP resonance enhances the scattering cross section, while the geometrical cross section remains small, thus providing a large gain volume. The localized electromagnetic field near the particle surface leads to enhanced absorption of excitation light and larger amplification of fluorescence. The metal-nanoparticle-based random laser yields larger linewidth narrowing at lower pump fluence threshold than a dielectric-scatterer-based random laser under equivalent conditions. These findings open the door to studies of applications related to light amplification assisted by SP in metallic nanoparticles.