We introduce tunable optofluidic microlasers based on optically stretched or thermally modified, dye-doped emulsion droplets of liquid crystals (LC) confined in a dual-beam optical trap. Droplets were created in microfluidic chips or by shaking. Optically trapped microdroplets emulsified in water and stained with fluorescent dye act as an active ultrahigh-Q optical resonant cavity hosting whispering gallery modes (WGMs). Tuning of the laser emission wavelength was achieved by a controlled deformation of the droplet shape using light-induced forces generated by dual-beam optical trap and by thermal changing of the order in the LC.

Date Published: 5 December 2014
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9441, 19th Polish-Slovak-Czech Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics, 944108 (5 December 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2176025

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9441:
19th Polish-Slovak-Czech Optical Conference on Wave and Quantum Aspects of Contemporary Optics
Agnieszka Popiolek-Masajada; Waclaw Urbanczyk, Editor(s)