Emission wavelength of multilayer distributed feedback dye lasers

Precise emission wavelength modeling is essential for understanding and optimization of distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. An analytical approach for determining the emission wavelength based on setting the propagation constant of the Bragg condition and solving for the resulting slab waveguide mode is reported. The method is advantageous to established methods as it predicts the wavelength precisely with reduced complexity. Four-layered hybrid polymer-TiO2 first order DFB dye lasers with different TiO2 layer thicknesses are studied. Varying the TiO2 thickness from 0 nm to 30 nm changes the emission wavelength by 7 nm with compelling agreement of modeling results to experimental measurements. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4759131]