Operating characteristics of a semiconducting polymer laser pumped by a microchip laser

TLDR

We report a compact, all‑solid‑state polymer laser pumped by a microchip laser. The laser is a surface‑emitting, two‑dimensional distributed‑feedback device using poly(2‑methoxy‑5‑(2′‑ethylhexyloxy)‑1,4‑phenylene vinylene), and its azimuthally polarized output arises from coherent superposition of resonant fields in the two gratings. Pulsed band‑edge lasing at 636 nm occurs above a 4 nJ pump threshold, with a slope efficiency of 6.8 % and a maximum output of 1.12 nJ at 20.4 nJ, and the beam shows an azimuthally polarized annular profile with M2 = 2.2, close to the theoretical lowest‑order Laguerre–Gaussian/Bessel–Gaussian annular modes.

Abstract

We report the demonstration of a compact, all-solid-state polymer laser system featuring a microchip laser as the pump source. The laser was configured as a surface-emitting, two-dimensional distributed feedback laser, based on the conjugated polymer poly(2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene). Pulsed, band-edge lasing was observed at 636 nm above a threshold pump energy of 4 nJ. The laser exhibited an energy slope efficiency of 6.8%, with a maximum output energy of 1.12 nJ at a pump energy of 20.4 nJ. The output beam had an azimuthally polarized annular profile with a beam quality factor (M2) of 2.2, close to the theoretical value of the lowest-order Laguerre–Gaussian and Bessel–Gaussian annular modes. We explain the origin of the azimuthal polarization as due to a coherent combination of the resonant fields supported by the two gratings.