Defect-mode mirrorless lasing in dye-doped organic/inorganic hybrid one-dimensional photonic crystal

We have developed a dye-doped organic/inorganic hybrid one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal containing a dye-doped defect layer for defect-mode photonic band gap lasing. The multilayer laser structure consists of alternating layers of titania nanoparticles and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with an active emission layer of organic dyes in PMMA. Low threshold lasing has been demonstrated at a single defect-mode wavelength of the 1D photonic band gap structure resulting from the inhibited density of states of photons within the stop band and the enhanced rates of spontaneous emission at the localized resonant defect mode.