Issue 37, 2016

Tunable nanoblock lasers and stretching sensors

Abstract

Reconfigurable, reliable, and robust nanolasers with wavelengths tunable in the telecommunication bands are currently being sought after for use as flexible light sources in photonic integrated circuits. Here, we propose and demonstrate tunable nanolasers based on 1D nanoblocks embedded within stretchable polydimethylsiloxane. Our lasers show a large wavelength tunability of 7.65 nm per 1% elongation. Moreover, this tunability is reconfigurable and reliable under repeated stretching/relaxation tests. By applying excessive stretching, wide wavelength tuning over a range of 80 nm (spanning the S, C, and L telecommunication bands) is successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, as a stretching sensor, an enhanced wavelength response to elongation of 9.9 nm per % is obtained via the signal differential from two nanoblock lasers positioned perpendicular to each other. The minimum detectable elongation is as small as 0.056%. Nanoblock lasers can function as reliable tunable light sources in telecommunications and highly sensitive on-chip structural deformation sensors.

Graphical abstract: Tunable nanoblock lasers and stretching sensors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Apr 2016
Accepted
30 Aug 2016
First published
31 Aug 2016

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 16769-16775

Tunable nanoblock lasers and stretching sensors

T. W. Lu, C. Wang, C. F. Hsiao and P. T. Lee, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 16769 DOI: 10.1039/C6NR03213C

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