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Microfluidic single-mode laser using high-order Bragg grating and antiguiding segments

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Abstract

We present a single-mode, single-polarization, distributed-feedback liquid dye laser, based on a short high-order Bragg grating defined in a single polymer layer between two glass substrates. In this device we obtain single-mode operation in a multimode structure by means of transverse-mode discrimination with antiguiding segments. The laser is fabricated using microfabrication technology, is pumped by a pulsed frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, and emits narrow-line-width light in the chip plane at 577 nm. The output from the laser is coupled into integrated planar waveguides defined in the same polymer film. The laser device is thus well suited for integration, for example, into polymer based lab-on-a-chip microsystems.

©2005 Optical Society of America

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Figures (5)

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Laser device. (a) SEM picture of laser resonator. A number of walls are placed in a wide fluid channel; waveguides lead the light away from the laser, down to the left. The picture was taken before the channels were sealed off by the lid. (b) Closeup of the resonator walls, whose vertical sides make up the reflection for the resonator. (c) A finished laser structure, with the same laser resonator as in (a) but with waveguides on both sides of the resonator. Fluid inlets and outlets pass the dye solution through the fluid channel. (d) Schematic of laser structure profile: two glass substrates surround the 8-µm SU-8 layer and the 4-µm PMMA layer, and the total height is 1 mm.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Schematic of reference plane in the middle of the resonator for calculating the round-trip loss using the reflections rA and rB on each side of the reference plane (dotted line). The row of squares represents polymer bars.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. The fundamental mode of the SU-8 slab waveguide propagating across a fluid channel (ethanol+dye) in the PMMA and glass cladding. Since the refractive index in the channel is lower than for the surroundings, the segment will be antiguiding, thus distorting the original field distribution Un (y).
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Calculated wavelength-dependent round-trip loss as seen from the center of the resonator (m=0). The inset shows a closeup of two peaks with m=0 and m=1 transverse modes illustrated. The peak position is slightly offset because of the difference in effective refractive index for the two modes.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Laser spectrum for a device. A main peak dominates the spectrum. Inset: The dye laser output power versus the mean total Nd:YAG pumping power. The laser exhibits a threshold at ~0.02 mJ mm-2 (8 mW).

Tables (1)

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Table 1. Calculated mode-dependent power loss for the first six modes in the SU-8 polymer slab waveguide. The rise in loss is due to lack of confinement in the anti-guiding fluid segments of the resonator.

Equations (1)

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C m , n p 2 = U m * ( y ) U n , p ( y ) d y 2 ,
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