Droplet Lasers:A Review of Current Progress

© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. It is perhaps surprising that something as fragile as a microscopic droplet could possibly form a laser. In this article we will review some of the underpinning physics as to how this might be possible, and then examine the state of the art in the field. The technology to create and manipulate droplets will be examined, as will the different classes of droplet lasers. We discuss the rapidly developing fields of droplet biolasers, liquid crystal laser droplets and explore how droplet lasers could give rise to new bio and chemical sensing and analysis. The challenges that droplet lasers face in becoming robust devices, either as sensors or as photonic components in the lab on chip devices, is assessed

Direct measurement of quantum efficiency of single-photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride

© 2019 Optical Society of America. Single-photon emitters (SPEs) in two-dimensional materials are promising candidates for the future generation of quantum photonic technologies. In this work, we experimentally determine the quantum efficiency (QE) of SPEs in few-layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). We employ a metal hemisphere that is attached to the tip of an atomic force microscope to directly measure the lifetime variation of the SPEs as the tip approaches the h-BN. This technique enables nondestructive, yet direct and absolute measurement of the QE of SPEs. We find that the emitters exhibit very high QEs approaching (87 ± 7)% at wavelengths of ≈580 nm, which is among the highest QEs recorded for a solid-state SPE

FRET lasing from self-assembled DNA tetrahedral nanostructures suspended in optofluidic droplet resonators

We demonstrate Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) lasing from self-assembled tetrahedral DNA complexes labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 dyes and suspended as a gain medium in aqueous microdroplet cavities deposited on a superhydrophobic surface. Threshold fluence and differential efficiency are characterized for DNA complexes containing 1Cy3-3Cy5 and 3Cy3-1Cy5. We demonstrate that at a constant Cy5 concentration, average threshold fluence is reduced 3 to 8 times and average differential efficiency is enhanced 6 to 30 times for 3Cy3-1Cy5 as compared to 1Cy3-3Cy5. Using 3Cy3-1Cy5 nanostructures, FRET lasing is observed at very low concentrations down to ∼ 1 μM. This work shows that optofluidic microlasers based on droplet resonators can be combined with DNA nanotechnology to explore applications in bio/chemical sensing and novel photonic devices

FRET lasing from self-assembled DNA tetrahedral nanostructures suspended in optofluidic droplet resonators

We demonstrate Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) lasing from self-assembled tetrahedral DNA complexes labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 dyes and suspended as a gain medium in aqueous microdroplet cavities deposited on a superhydrophobic surface. Threshold fluence and differential efficiency are characterized for DNA complexes containing 1Cy3-3Cy5 and 3Cy3-1Cy5. We demonstrate that at a constant Cy5 concentration, average threshold fluence is reduced 3 to 8 times and average differential efficiency is enhanced 6 to 30 times for 3Cy3-1Cy5 as compared to 1Cy3-3Cy5. Using 3Cy3-1Cy5 nanostructures, FRET lasing is observed at very low concentrations down to ∼ 1 μM. This work shows that optofluidic microlasers based on droplet resonators can be combined with DNA nanotechnology to explore applications in bio/chemical sensing and novel photonic devices