Lasing from single, stationary, dye-doped glycerol/water microdroplets located on a superhydrophobic surface

Abstract

We report laser emission from single, stationary, Rhodamine B-doped glycerol/water microdroplets located on a superhydrophobic surface. In the experiments, a pulsed, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 nm was used as the excitation source. The microdroplets ranged in diameter from a few to 20 um. Lasing was achieved in the red-shifted portion of the dye emission spectrum with threshold fluences as low as 750 J/cm2. Photobleaching was observed when the microdroplets were pumped above threshold. In certain cases, multimode lasing was also observed and attributed to the simultaneous lasing of two modes belonging to different sets of whispering gallery modes.Comment: to appear in Optics Communication