Ultraviolet whispering-gallery-mode lasing in ZnO micro/nano sphere crystal

We report ultraviolet (UV) whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) lasing in a zinc oxide (ZnO) micro/nanosphere crystal fabricated by simply ablating a ZnO sintered target, which was much more productive method without any time-consuming crystal-growth process. The lasing spectral mode spacing was controlled by changing the diameters, and single-mode lasing was realized from a ZnO nanosphere. Experimental results were in good agreement with predictions from WGM theories. Since the ZnO sphere can operate as an active WGM refractometric sensor for small molecules in UV region, high sensitivity enhanced by high quality factor, refractive index, and wavelength dispersion can be expected. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768696]