Review on latest developments in random lasers with coherent feedback

Abstract

The random laser represents a non-conventional laser whose feedback is mediated by random fluctuation of the dielectric constant in space. Depending on whether the feedback is intensity or field feedback, random lasers are classified into two categories: a random laser with incoherent and non-resonant feedback, and a random laser with coherent and resonant feedback. This paper reviews some of the latest developments in the latter, including experiments and theories on the 'classical' and 'quantum' type of random lasers with coherent feedback, the photon localization lasers. The quantum theories of random lasers are briefly introduced, followed by a discussion of the recent studies on the interplay between light localization and coherent amplification.