Power and Beam Characteristics of Semiconducting Polymer Lasers Pumped by a Microchip Laser

摘要

Semiconducting conjugated polymers have many attractive features as a new class of visible laser media [1]. They exhibit strong absorption bands with peak absorption coefficients ～10{sup}5 cm{sup}(-1), and large optical gain cross-sections ～10{sup}(-15) cm{sup}2, giving the possibility of enormous gain. Emission bandwidths can exceed 100 nm, and may be tuned from 400 to 700 nm by appropriate chemical design. Unlike small dye molecules, polymers exhibit little concentration quenching, and show fluorescence quantum efficiencies as high as 60% in the undiluted solid state. Particularly important is their capacity for simple processing. Both solution processing, and hot embossing, can be used to form flexible shapes and structures that may control the light emission.