Cavity-Q-driven spectral shift in a cylindrical whispering-gallery-mode microcavity laser

Cavity-Q-driven spectral shift of lasing was observed in a cylindrical microcavity formed by rhodamine6G-doped quinoline in a capillary. The envelope of lasing spectrum showed a blueshift induced by the decreasing cavity Q of whispering gallery modes as the pump fluence increases. The thermally induced refractive index changes were measured from the shifts of individual lasing modes. The observed cavity-Q-driven spectral shift was well described by a simple dye laser model, which accounts for the dependence of cavity Q on the thermally induced refractive index change. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)01925-2].