Lasing and Amplified Spontaneous Emission in a Polymeric Inverse Opal Photonic Crystal Resonating Cavity

We demonstrate the lasing and amplified spontaneous emission in the polymeric inverse opal photonic crystal resonating cavity. The resonating cavity is constructed by sandwiching tert-butyl rhodamine B doped PMMA film with polymeric inverse opal photonic crystals, which work as feedback mirrors. Laser-induced emission experiments reveal lasing or amplified spontaneous emission of the dye molecules in the resonating cavity. Amplified spontaneous emission occurs at the edges of the photonic stop band of the polymeric inverse opal photonic crystal when it partially overlaps with the photoluminescence emission band of the dye molecules. In contrast, lasing action emerges in the resonating cavity when the photonic stop band matches well with the photoluminescence emission band of the dye molecules. Single-mode lasing emission is located at the photonic stop band, indicating the photonic lasing property. The lasing threshold is determined as 4.57 mu J/pulse, and the lasing line width is about 1.0 nm. The present work provides the prospect for constructing low-threshold organic solid-state dye lasers.