Optofluidic distributed feedback dye laser via evanescent gain

We demonstrate optofluidic evanescent dye lasers based on two types of solid distributed feedback (DFB) grating cavities- the first order linear DFB gratings which gives in-plane laser emitting and second order circular DFB gratings which gives surface laser emitting. For both of them, the laser mode is confined within the waveguide and experience optical gain via evanescent wave coupling with the dye solution. Benefitting from the solid waveguide cores, stable and narrow linewidth laser output were observed with a large tolerance of fluid refractive indices, which prove the feasibility of integrating fluid evanescent gain dye laser into passive waveguide circuit. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.