Lasing from a molecular sieve

摘要

Lasers using organic dyes suspended in solution have been a fixture in optics labs for more than 30 years. They have high output powers and broad tunability over the entire visible spectrum, finding many applications, for instance in molecular spectroscopy. Another type of organic laser is now described by Vietze and co-workers in Physical Review Letters, one that has a remarkable property — the organic molecule is not suspended in solution, but rather is tucked away in the microscopic pores of a zeolite crystal. This 'microlaser' is one of a growing class of optically excited organic lasers that may eventually replace the messy and cumbersome liquid-dye laser, and indeed may find completely novel applications in optical sensing and communications, and in consumer devices such as printers and scanners.