Thermodynamic-effect-induced growth, optical modulation and UV lasing of hierarchical ZnO Fabry–Pérot resonators

Abstract

High quality ZnO multilayer hexagonal microplates and microtubes were fabricated via a simple carbothermal method without any catalysts, carrier gases, or low pressure. The formation of the ZnO microstructures with different morphologies was discussed in detail, and a possible thermodynamic viewpoint was proposed. Fabry–Pérot (FP) modes and UV lasing were directly observed using a spatially resolved spectroscopic technique. All the resonant modes observed experimentally were identified using finite-difference-time-domain simulations. Excitation power and temperature dependence of lasing properties of the ZnO microplate were further studied. Compared with the conventional one-dimensional nanowire/nanobelt FP cavities, such ZnO multilayer vertical-FP resonators have much less optical loss and excellent optical responses and may find potential applications in UV microlasers.