Microfluidic single-mode laser using high-order Bragg grating and antiguiding segments

Abstract

We present a single-mode, single-polarization, distributed feedback liquid dye laser, based on a short high-order Bragg grating defined in a single polymer layer between two glass substrates. In this device we obtain single-mode operation in a multimode structure by means of transverse-mode discrimination with antiguiding segments. The laser is fabricated using microfabrication technology, is pumped by a pulsed frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, and emits narrow-line-width light in the chip plane at 577 nm. The output from the laser is coupled into integrated planar waveguides defined in the same polymer _lm. The laser device is thus well suited for integration, for example, into polymer based lab-on-a-chip microsystems.