Microfabricated solid-state dye lasers based on a photodefinable polymer

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. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America