Open AccessFirsthand in situ observation of active fine laser tuning by combining a temperature gradient and a CLC wedge cell structure
Author(s) -
Mi Yun Jeong,
Jihun Cha
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.23.021243
Subject(s) - materials science , laser , optics , wedge (geometry) , wavelength , lasing threshold , optoelectronics , cholesteric liquid crystal , temperature gradient , liquid crystal , physics , quantum mechanics
In situ direct observation of the lasing process in a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) laser array using a CMOS camera was used to investigate discontinuous laser tuning in a parallel CLC cell. In accordance with the discontinuous pitch change by thermal energy transfer, at the same time the laser wavelength undergoes an immediate and discontinuous shift. And we found out the reason why the CLC phase has domain textures. And this work develops a simple active tunable laser array by forming a spatial temperature gradient along a wedge CLC cell. With this new strategy, only just about 7 nm laser tuning range at room temperature is extremely widened over the 105 nm wavelength range with about 0.2 nm tuning resolution. Furthermore, there is no aging effect because the employed CLC array has only one chiral molecular concentration. This strategy could be used in a practical CLC laser device application.