Random laser action in dye solutions containing Stober silica nanoparticles

Random laser action is obtained in a diffusive weakly scattering regime using an alcohol solution of rhodamine 640 with silica nanoparticles prepared by the Stober method, with different average diameters of 49, 90, 219, and 490 nm. Particle size and concentration has proven to affect the random laser performance. It is also shown that silica nanoparticles contributes for a much slower photodegradation of the dye molecules than titania nanoparticles that has been used in the majority of the dye random lasers. This fact makes it advantageous to use silica nanoparticles for the fundamental studies of random laser, due to its increase in lifetime under pumping conditions. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3462443]