This paper provides a review of advances in conjugated polymer lasers. High photoluminescence efficiencies and large stimulated emission cross-sections coupled with wavelength tunability and low-cost manufacturing processes make conjugated polymers ideal laser gain materials. In recent years, conjugated polymer lasers have become an attractive research direction in the field of organic lasers and numerous breakthroughs based on conjugated polymer lasers have been made in the last decade. This paper summarizes the recent progress of the subject of laser processes employing conjugated polymers, with a focus on the photoluminescence principle and excitation radiation mechanism of conjugated polymers. Furthermore, the effect of conjugated polymer structures on the laser threshold is discussed. The most common polymer laser materials are also introduced in detail. Apart from photo-pumped conjugated polymer lasers, a direction for the future development of electro-pumped conjugated polymer lasers is proposed.
Keywords: amplified spontaneous emission; conjugated polymer; laser; photoluminescence.