Low-threshold conical microcavity dye lasers

We report on lasing in rhodamine 6G-doped, conical polymeric microcavities with high quality factors fabricated on a silicon substrate. Threshold pump energies as low as 3 nJ are achieved by free-space excitation in the quasistationary pumping regime with lasing wavelengths around 600 nm. Finite element simulations confirm that lasing occurs in whispering gallery modes which corresponds well to the measured multimode laser-emission. The effect of dye concentration on lasing threshold and lasing wavelength is investigated and can be explained using a standard dye laser model. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3479532]