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The physics and applications of random lasers

Nature Physics volume 4, pages 359–367 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent developments in the field of micro and nanophotonics have shown that it is possible to make use of the intrinsic disorder in photonic materials to create useful optical structures. An example is that of a random laser, in which laser action is obtained in disordered structures such as powders and porous glasses. Although these materials are easy to fabricate, it is only recently that researchers have started to fully understand the rich and complex physical processes that take place in amplifying disordered systems. Here, I will give an overview of the various recent results and discuss the physical picture that has now emerged. I will also discuss possible applications of this new type of disorder-based laser light source.

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Figure 1: Multiple light scattering with gain.
Figure 2: Observation of random lasing.
Figure 3: Extended versus localized optical modes.
Figure 4: Complex emission spectra exhibiting narrow spikes.
Figure 5: Numerical calculation of mode profile.
Figure 6: Chaotic behaviour and Levy statistics.
Figure 7: Threshold fluctuations.
Figure 8: Random-laser materials.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the entire optics of complex systems group at LENS for discussions as well as S. Mujumdar, S. Lepri, S. Cavalieri, R. Righini, M. Colocci, T. Arecchi, F. Marin, A. Lagendijk, K. van der Molen, A. Mosk, D. Anglos, A. Genack, P. Sebbah, M. Noginov and H. Cao. In addition, I thank the authors of the various papers discussed in this review for providing high-quality reprints of their figures and F. Riboli and P. Barthelemy for the finite-difference time-domain calculations on the extended and localized field distributions. This work was partially financed by the European Network of Excellence Phoremost.

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  1. European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS) and INFM-BEC, Via Nello Carrara 1, I-50019 Sesto-Fiorentino (Florence), Italy

    Diederik S. Wiersma

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Wiersma, D. The physics and applications of random lasers. Nature Phys 4, 359–367 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys971

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