Post-Process Tunability of Folded One- Dimensional All-Polymer Photonic Crystal Microcavity Lasers
Nathan Dawson, Kenneth D. Singer, James H. Andrews, Michael Crescimanno, Guilin Mao, Joshua Petrus, Hyunmin Song and Eric Baer
We report on wavelength tunability of all-polymer one-dimensional photonic crystal lasers after fabrication via a melt-process co-extrusion technique. Wavelength tuning of two types of lasers is discussed; (1) an elastomeric Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) laser with an active layer between multilayers of alternating elastomeric polymer layers that is mechanically tuned via an induced strain, and (2) a Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser with alternating dye-doped and undoped layers that is tuned by terracing the surface layer that becomes the center layer upon folding to create a defect in regularity of the DFB laser structure. Both of the lasers were doped with rhodamine 6g in the active volume and we report on both the range of tunability and lasing characteristics as well as the effects of random thickness variations for folded multilayer structures.