Pneumatically tunable optofluidic dye laser

We presented a tunable optofluidic dye laser with integrated elastomeric air-gap etalon controlled by air pressure. The chip was fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) via replica molding. It comprises a liquid waveguide and microscale air-gap mirrors providing the feedback. The lasing wavelength is chosen by the interference between two parallel PDMS-air interfaces inside the internal tunable air-gap etalon, of which pneumatic tuning can be realized by inflating the air-gap etalon with compressed air. This dye laser exhibits a pumping threshold of 1.6 μJ /pulse, a lasing linewidth of 3 nm, and a tuning range of 14 nm. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.