We have demonstrated near-infrared amplified spontaneous emission and laser emission from fluorinated-polyimide waveguides doped with an organic dye, 5,6-dichloro-2[8-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-2,4-neopentylene-1,3,5,7-octatetraenyl]-3-ethylbenzothiazolium perchlorate (LDS950). The planar waveguides doped with 1wt% of the dye, 10mm in length and 9.3μm in thickness, have exhibited amplified spontaneous emission and optical gain around 960nm under optical pulse pumping. A good optical gain coefficient of 1.4mm−1 was obtained. Furthermore, by using the cleaved waveguide edges as reflective facets, sharp emission peaks showing laser oscillation at 970nm were observed under the optical pulse pumping. The lasing threshold was 0.22mJ∕cm2. The lasing wavelength of 970nm is the longest for solid state dye-doped polymeric lasers.

The authors have demonstrated stimulated emission from polymer-based planar waveguide doped with Eu–Al nanoclusters under continuous-wave optical pumping. For the waveguide sample with a nanocluster concentration of 5.0wt%, amplified spontaneous emission was observed in the spectra of the light decoupled from the waveguide edge under a pumping density of 0.16–1.55W∕cm2. The optical gain coefficient was 0.92mm−1 when pumped at 1.55W∕cm2. The well-suppressed concentration quenching and multiphonon quenching may cause the high-gain and low-threshold optical amplification. These results show that the Eu–Al nanocluster is a promising material for polymer-based solid-state lasers and waveguide-type optical amplifiers.

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