Microfabricated solid-state dye lasers based on a photodefinable polymer

Abstract

We present a solid polymer dye laser based on a single-mode planar waveguide. The all-polymer device is self-contained in the photodefinable polymer SU-8 and may therefore easily be placed on any substrate and be integrated with polymer-based systems. We use as the active medium for the laser the commercially available laser dye Rhodamine 6G, which is incorporated into the SU-8 polymer matrix. The single-mode slab waveguide is formed by three-step spin-coating deposition: a buffer layer of undoped SU-8, a core layer of SU-8 doped with Rhodamine, and a cladding layer of undoped SU-8.

Organic solid‐state integrated amplifiers and lasers

“…As mentioned in the introduction section, solution processing leads to poor-quality waveguide endfaces, which cannot be cleaved or, polished to an optical quality sufficiently high to ensure optimal light coupling [50]. This problem can be overcome by blending the active material with UV curable polymers and then using photopatterning to define the edge facets [51,52]. An alternative approach is to encapsulate the gain medium in a more brittle photocrosslinked polymer that can readily be cleaved [53].…”

Combined nanoimprint and photolithography of integrated polymer optics

“…Distributed feed-back (DFB) polymer dye lasers [2] are integrated with polymer waveguides [3]. The laser devices are defined in SU-8 resist, doped with Rhodamine 6G laser dye, shaped as planar slab waveguides on a Fused Silica buffer substrate, and with a 1 st -order DFB surface corrugation forming the laser resonator, see Fig.…”

“…Finally, an anti-stiction coating is deposited on the stamp. The Rhodamine 6G perchlorate doped SU-8 resist (13 wt% solid content SU-8 in cyclopentanone) is prepared as described in [3]. The final Rhodamine concentration is 3.2 µmol per g solid SU-8.…”

Integrated Active and Passive Polymer Optical Components with nm to mm Features

“…Distributed feed-back (DFB) polymer dye lasers [2] are integrated with polymer waveguides [3]. The laser devices are defined in SU-8 resist, doped with Rhodamine 6G laser dye, shaped as planar slab waveguides on a Borofloat glass buffer substrate, and with a 1 st -order DFB surface corrugation forming the laser resonator, see Hereby the mm to μm sized features are defined by the UV exposure through the metal mask, while the nm-scale features are formed by mechanical deformation (nanoimprinting).…”

“…2 (e). Polymer waveguides are added [3] by an additional UV lithography step in a film of un-doped SU-8, which is spincoated on top of the lasers and substrate, Fig. 2 (f)-(g).…”