Random laser based on Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films coating on ZnO nanorods synthesized by hydrothermal oxidation

• Main Authors: Hua Zhang, Guoying Feng, Hong Zhang, Chao Yang, Jiajia Yin, Shouhuan Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2017-01-01
• Series: Results in Physics
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379717306186

Random laser based on Rh6G doped PMMA thin films coating on ZnO nanorods synthesized by a simple hydrothermal oxidation method has been demonstrated. This kind of random laser medium is based on waveguide structure consisting of ZnO nanorods, Rh6G doped PMMA film and air. By controlling the time of hydrothermal oxidation reaction, wheat-like and hexagonal prism ZnO nanorods have been successfully fabricated. The emission spectra of these gain mediums based on different ZnO nanorods are different. The one based on wheat-like ZnO nanorods mainly exhibits amplified spontaneous emission, and the other one based on hexagonal prism ZnO nanorods shows random laser emission. The threshold of the random laser medium is about 73.8 μJ/pulse, and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) is around 2.1 nm. The emission spectra measured at different detecting angles reveal that the output direction is strongly confined in ±30° by the waveguide effect. Our experiments demonstrate a promising method to achieve organic random laser medium. Keywords: Random laser, ZnO nanorods, Hydrothermal oxidation, Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G), Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)