Electrically Tunable Polymer Whispering-Gallery-Mode Laser

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jul 10;15(14):4812. doi: 10.3390/ma15144812.

Abstract

Microlasers hold great promise for the development of photonics and optoelectronics. At present, tunable microcavity lasers, especially regarding in situ dynamic tuning, are still the focus of research. In this study, we combined a 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) piezoelectric crystal with a Poly [9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl] (PFO) microring cavity to realize a high-quality, electrically tunable, whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) laser. The dependence of the laser properties on the diameter of the microrings, including the laser spectrum and quality (Q) value, was investigated. It was found that with an increase in microring diameter, the laser emission redshifted, and the Q value increased. In addition, the device effectively achieved a blueshift under an applied electric field, and the wavelength tuning range was 0.71 nm. This work provides a method for in situ dynamic spectral modulation of microcavity lasers, and is expected to provide inspiration for the application of integrated photonics technology.

Keywords: PFO; PMN-PT piezoelectric crystal; WGM; electrically tunable laser; microring cavity.