Microlasers Enabled by Soft‐Matter Technology

Abstract

Soft‐matter microlasers are an interesting part of soft‐matter photonics, which are based on liquids, liquid crystals, polymers, biological materials, and fabricated mainly by solution‐processing approaches. Soft‐matter microlasers comprehend a multitude of attractive features, including low‐cost, mechanical flexibility, wide range wavelength tunability and, in some cases, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. As such, they are recognized as versatile candidates for efficient light sources with enhanced performances and applications as ultrasensitive physical, chemical, and biological sensors. Here, the recent developments of soft‐matter microlasers are reviewed in time and the prospect in this field is provided. First, the characteristics of the representative soft‐matter microlasers are discussed with focus on their laser structures, lasing mechanisms, fabrication approaches, and gain material origins, followed by an introduction about the current cutting‐edge soft‐technologies that are applied in soft‐matter microlasers. Afterward, their potential applications as wavelength tunable sources, sensors, and displays are highlighted. Finally, the work is summarized and the prospect of soft‐matter microlasers for expanding this emerging research field is presented.

Protein-based microsphere biolasers fabricated by dehydration

“…Biolasers -laser sources composed of materials of biological originhave attracted a great deal of interest due to their potential applications in bio-integration and biosensing. [1][2][3][4] Various biological materials including poly lactic-co-glycolicacid, starch, protein, pectin, cellulose, curcumin have been explored for laser microcavities. [5][6][7][8][9] Among these, bovine serum albumin (BSA) is considered to be an excellent biomaterial because of its biocompatibility and the ability to be transported in the human body.…”

Recent Progress on Optoplasmonic Whispering‐Gallery‐Mode Microcavities

“…Among them, WGM microcavities confining light by total internal reflection can achieve high‐quality resonances greatly pushing the development of cavity quantum electrodynamics, nonlinear optics, quantum optics, and non‐Hermitian photonics. [ 13–16 ]…”

Hydrogel Microlasers for Versatile Biomolecular Analysis Based on a Lasing Microarray

“…[ 12–15 ] A plethora of biocompatible materials have been used to form microlasers in recent years, including proteins, poly(lactic acid), starch, lipids, liquid crystals, cellulose, and polymers. [ 13,16–26 ] To move a step forward, it is essential to realize microlasers with the versatility to design, control, and functionalize different biostructures and molecules within the cavity. Hydrogels, one of the most popular biomaterials, have received tremendous attention for its high versatility among biocompatible materials over decades.…”