A nearly diffraction limited surface emitting conjugated polymer laser utilizing a two-dimensional photonic band structure

TLDR

The authors fabricated a mechanically flexible conjugated polymer laser by UV‑embossing a plastic substrate into a two‑dimensional photonic crystal, spin‑coating ladder‑type poly(p‑phenylene) as the active medium, and modeling the distributed‑feedback mechanism with a Laue formulation. Optical pumping produced a low‑threshold, nearly diffraction‑limited, single‑mode laser emission perpendicular to the surface.

Abstract

We have fabricated a mechanically flexible conjugated polymer laser utilizing distributed feedback due to a two-dimensional photonic band structure. An ultraviolet-embossing process is used for nanopatterning a plastic substrate. On top we spin-coat a ladder-type poly(p-phenylene) as the active laser medium. Upon optical pumping, we observe a low threshold and nearly diffraction limited monomode laser emission perpendicular to the surface. Our results are explained within a Laue formulation for the feedback mechanism in the two-dimensional organic photonic crystal.