Self-healing organic-dye-based random lasers

Abstract

One of the primary difficulties in the implementation of organic-dye-based random lasers is the tendency of organic dyes to irreversibly photodecay. In this letter we report the observation of "reversible" photodegradation in a Rhodamine 6G and ZrO${}_2$ nanoparticle doped polyurethane random laser. We find that during degradation the emission broadens, redshifts, and decreases in intensity. After degradation the system is observed to self-heal leading to the emission returning to its pristine intensity, giving a recovery efficiency of 100%. While the peak intensity fully recovers, the process is not strictly "reversible" as the emission after recovery is still found to be broadened and redshifted. The combination of the peak emission fully recovering and the broadening of the emission leads to a remarkable result: the random laser cycled through degradation and recovery has a greater integrated emission intensity than the pristine system.

5 pages, 5 figures, Full Bibliography is on page 5

References in corpus (11)

• Speckle-free laser imaging
• Spatial coherence of random laser emission
• Mode Repulsion and Mode Coupling in Random Lasers
• Active subnanometer spectral control of a random laser
• Mechanisms of reversible photodegradation in disperse orange 11 dye doped in PMMA polymer
• Two-photon fluorescence measurements of reversible photodegradation in a dye-doped polymer
• A Self Healing Model Based on Polymer-Mediated Chromophore Correlations
• Generalizing the correlated chromophore domain model of reversible photodegradation to include the effects of an applied electric field
• The influence of an electric field on photodegradation and self healing in disperse orange 11 dye-doped PMMA thin films
• Low-Threshold and Narrow Linewidth Diffusive Random Lasing in Rhodamine 6G Dye-Doped Polyurethane with Dispersed ZrO${}_2$ Nanoparticles
• Mechanisms of the refractive index change in DO11/PMMA due to photodegradation

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Photodegradation and self-healing in a Rhodamine 6G dye and Y${}_2$O${}_3$ nanoparticle-doped polyurethane random laser
• Random Lasing and Reversible Photodegradation in Disperse Orange 11 Dye-Doped PMMA with Dispersed ZrO${}_2$ Nanoparticles
• Spectroscopic studies of the mechanism of reversible photodegradation of 1-substituted aminoanthraquinone-doped polymers
• Wavelength dependence of reversible photodegradation of disperse orange 11 dye-doped PMMA thin films