Efficient and tunable liquid crystal random laser based on plasmonic-enhanced FRET

Guangyin Qu; Xiaojuan Zhang; Liang Lu; Siqi Li; Wenyu Du; Zhigang Cao; Chao Li; Lin Zhang; Kaiming Zhou; Si Wu; Jiajun Ma; Jiangang Gao; Benli Yu; Zhijia Hu

doi:10.1063/5.0134978

Efficient and tunable liquid crystal random laser based on plasmonic-enhanced FRET

Guangyin Qu, Xiaojuan Zhang, Liang Lu, Siqi Li, Wenyu Du, Zhigang Cao, Chao Li, Lin Zhang, Kaiming Zhou, Si Wu, Jiajun Ma, Jiangang Gao, Benli Yu, Zhijia Hu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Random lasers (RLs), which possess peculiar advantages (e.g., emission and coherence tunable) over traditional lasers with optical resonators, have witnessed rapid development in the past decades. However, it is still a challenge to tune the lasing peak of an RL over a wide range. Here, a temperature-dependent Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) RL is demonstrated in pyrromethene 597 (PM597, “donor”) and Nile blue (NB, “acceptor”) doped chiral liquid crystals. By changing the temperature that drives the liquid crystal bandgap shift, our RL device exhibits a lasing output change from 560 nm (yellow) to 700 nm (red). While the intrinsic FRET efficiency between PM597 and NB is relatively low, the red lasing is weak. By introducing gold nanorods (GNRs) into these RL devices and utilizing GNRs’ localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, the efficiency of FRET transfer is increased by 68.9%, thereby reducing the threshold of the RL devices. By tuning the longitudinal LSPR to match the emission wavelength of NB, the best 200-fold lasing intensity enhancement is recorded. Our findings open a pathway toward realizing LSPR-enhanced FRET tunable RLs and broaden the range of their possible exploration in photonics research and technologies.

Original language	English
Article number	066101
Number of pages	9
Journal	APL Photonics
Volume	8
Issue number	6
Early online date	1 Jun 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0134978
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12174002, 11874012, 11404087, 11874126, and 51771186), Excellent Scientific Research and Innovation Team of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2022AH010003), the innovation project for the Returned Overseas Scholars of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2021LCX011), the Key Research and Development Plan of Anhui Province (Grant No. 202104a05020059), the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (Grant No. GXXT-2020-052), and the project of the State Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 19FKSY0111).
Copyright 2023 the Authors. All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

Computer Networks and Communications
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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10.1063/5.0134978Licence: CC BY 4.0

Quetal_2023_VoR
Copyright © 2023 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 10.9 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

@article{79e8f847f88b43f599bf0806a2865ca0,

title = "Efficient and tunable liquid crystal random laser based on plasmonic-enhanced FRET",

abstract = "Random lasers (RLs), which possess peculiar advantages (e.g., emission and coherence tunable) over traditional lasers with optical resonators, have witnessed rapid development in the past decades. However, it is still a challenge to tune the lasing peak of an RL over a wide range. Here, a temperature-dependent F{\"o}rster resonance energy transfer (FRET) RL is demonstrated in pyrromethene 597 (PM597, “donor”) and Nile blue (NB, “acceptor”) doped chiral liquid crystals. By changing the temperature that drives the liquid crystal bandgap shift, our RL device exhibits a lasing output change from 560 nm (yellow) to 700 nm (red). While the intrinsic FRET efficiency between PM597 and NB is relatively low, the red lasing is weak. By introducing gold nanorods (GNRs) into these RL devices and utilizing GNRs{\textquoteright} localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, the efficiency of FRET transfer is increased by 68.9%, thereby reducing the threshold of the RL devices. By tuning the longitudinal LSPR to match the emission wavelength of NB, the best 200-fold lasing intensity enhancement is recorded. Our findings open a pathway toward realizing LSPR-enhanced FRET tunable RLs and broaden the range of their possible exploration in photonics research and technologies.",

keywords = "Computer Networks and Communications, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics",

author = "Guangyin Qu and Xiaojuan Zhang and Liang Lu and Siqi Li and Wenyu Du and Zhigang Cao and Chao Li and Lin Zhang and Kaiming Zhou and Si Wu and Jiajun Ma and Jiangang Gao and Benli Yu and Zhijia Hu",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12174002, 11874012, 11404087, 11874126, and 51771186), Excellent Scientific Research and Innovation Team of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2022AH010003), the innovation project for the Returned Overseas Scholars of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2021LCX011), the Key Research and Development Plan of Anhui Province (Grant No. 202104a05020059), the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (Grant No. GXXT-2020-052), and the project of the State Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 19FKSY0111). Copyright 2023 the Authors. All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ",

year = "2023",

month = jun,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1063/5.0134978",

language = "English",

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journal = "APL Photonics",

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T1 - Efficient and tunable liquid crystal random laser based on plasmonic-enhanced FRET

AU - Qu, Guangyin

AU - Zhang, Xiaojuan

AU - Lu, Liang

AU - Li, Siqi

AU - Du, Wenyu

AU - Cao, Zhigang

AU - Li, Chao

AU - Zhang, Lin

AU - Zhou, Kaiming

AU - Wu, Si

AU - Ma, Jiajun

AU - Gao, Jiangang

AU - Yu, Benli

AU - Hu, Zhijia

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12174002, 11874012, 11404087, 11874126, and 51771186), Excellent Scientific Research and Innovation Team of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2022AH010003), the innovation project for the Returned Overseas Scholars of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2021LCX011), the Key Research and Development Plan of Anhui Province (Grant No. 202104a05020059), the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (Grant No. GXXT-2020-052), and the project of the State Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 19FKSY0111). Copyright 2023 the Authors. All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

PY - 2023/6/1

Y1 - 2023/6/1

N2 - Random lasers (RLs), which possess peculiar advantages (e.g., emission and coherence tunable) over traditional lasers with optical resonators, have witnessed rapid development in the past decades. However, it is still a challenge to tune the lasing peak of an RL over a wide range. Here, a temperature-dependent Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) RL is demonstrated in pyrromethene 597 (PM597, “donor”) and Nile blue (NB, “acceptor”) doped chiral liquid crystals. By changing the temperature that drives the liquid crystal bandgap shift, our RL device exhibits a lasing output change from 560 nm (yellow) to 700 nm (red). While the intrinsic FRET efficiency between PM597 and NB is relatively low, the red lasing is weak. By introducing gold nanorods (GNRs) into these RL devices and utilizing GNRs’ localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, the efficiency of FRET transfer is increased by 68.9%, thereby reducing the threshold of the RL devices. By tuning the longitudinal LSPR to match the emission wavelength of NB, the best 200-fold lasing intensity enhancement is recorded. Our findings open a pathway toward realizing LSPR-enhanced FRET tunable RLs and broaden the range of their possible exploration in photonics research and technologies.

AB - Random lasers (RLs), which possess peculiar advantages (e.g., emission and coherence tunable) over traditional lasers with optical resonators, have witnessed rapid development in the past decades. However, it is still a challenge to tune the lasing peak of an RL over a wide range. Here, a temperature-dependent Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) RL is demonstrated in pyrromethene 597 (PM597, “donor”) and Nile blue (NB, “acceptor”) doped chiral liquid crystals. By changing the temperature that drives the liquid crystal bandgap shift, our RL device exhibits a lasing output change from 560 nm (yellow) to 700 nm (red). While the intrinsic FRET efficiency between PM597 and NB is relatively low, the red lasing is weak. By introducing gold nanorods (GNRs) into these RL devices and utilizing GNRs’ localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, the efficiency of FRET transfer is increased by 68.9%, thereby reducing the threshold of the RL devices. By tuning the longitudinal LSPR to match the emission wavelength of NB, the best 200-fold lasing intensity enhancement is recorded. Our findings open a pathway toward realizing LSPR-enhanced FRET tunable RLs and broaden the range of their possible exploration in photonics research and technologies.

KW - Computer Networks and Communications

KW - Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

UR - https://pubs.aip.org/aip/app/article/8/6/066101/2893763/Efficient-and-tunable-liquid-crystal-random-laser

U2 - 10.1063/5.0134978

DO - 10.1063/5.0134978

M3 - Article

SN - 2378-0967

VL - 8

JO - APL Photonics

JF - APL Photonics

IS - 6

M1 - 066101

ER -

Efficient and tunable liquid crystal random laser based on plasmonic-enhanced FRET

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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