A random laser based on electrospun polymeric composite nanofibers with dual-size distribution

Abstract

Electrospun fiber-based random lasers are environment-friendly flexible systems in which waveguiding/scattering processes provided by their structure with a broad distribution of diameters are essential elements to generate a suitable lasing mechanism.

UV random laser emission from flexible ZnO-Ag-enriched electrospun cellulose acetate fiber matrix

“…ZnO nanoparticles incorporated in cellulose acetate fiber matrix were prepared by electrospinning, and the system was characterized as a RL pumped by nanosecond laser pulses. This novel RL architecture had its performance comparable to other flexible fiber based RL, most of them using dyes as the gain medium 30–34 . The incorporation of silver nanoprisms to the RL matrix gave rise to a plasmonic effect in the RL emission, which led to an ~80% reduction in the threshold energy due to an enhanced electric field around the metallic nanoprisms/dielectric medium interface, from which the ZnO emission directly benefited.…”

“…It is worth mentioning that, using Ag nanoprisms of size larger than 150 nm no plasmonic effect was observed, as expected from the relative size of such nanoparticles (in agreement with previous results reported in the literature 47,48 about the influence of plasmon effects on reduction of the lasing threshold). One important aspect of using ZnO as the gain medium, in comparison with organic dyes, is the fact that there is no observable degradation effect from the interaction of the pump with the gain medium, very common in dyes based RLs 30,45 . It should be noticed that ref.…”

“…Random lasing action arising from electrospun nanofibers, which act as the scatterers, doped with appropriate gain medium, has been recently studied as reported in refs 30–34 introducing a new class of flexible RLs. Cellulose – the most reported and common biopolymer in the world and the widely used in the ester form (in the present case cellulose acetate - CA) 35,36 are important and relevant building blocks with a plenty of green credentials for different applications.…”

“…In particular, the production of electrospun fibers of CA introduces advantages for biomedical materials due to their superior chemical resistance, biocompatibility and biodegradability 38 . On the other hand, the cylindrical structure offers an adequate condition for light propagation and scattering, being possible the development of organic RL structures 30 .…”

Microlasers Enabled by Soft‐Matter Technology

“…Thanks to the waveguiding effect, this geometry can guide light sufficiently to a closed loop for laser oscillation . Polymer fibers can also form a network for random lasers . Below, we will examine typical structures.…”