Photonic crystals (PC) are a class of artificial structures with a periodic dielectric function. PCs can be a laboratory for testing fundamental processes involving interactions of radiation with matter in novel conditions. We have studied the optical properties of opal PCs that are infiltrated with highly polarizable media such as j-aggregates of cyanine dyes. Opals are self-assembled structures of silica spheres. We report our studies on clarifying the relationship between a polaritonic gap and a photonic stop band (Bragg gap) when they resonantly coexist in the same structure. Infiltration of opal with polarizable molecules combines the polaritonic and Bragg diffractive effects. Both effects exist independently when the Bragg (at ω = ωB) and polaritonic (ω = ωT) resonances are well separated in frequency. A completely different situation occurs when ωT ≈ωB. Such a condition was achieved in opals that were infiltrated with J-aggregates of cyanine dyes that have large Rabi frequency. Our measurements show some dramatic changes in the shape of the reflectivity plateaus, which are due to the interplay between the photonic band gap and the polaritonic gap. The experimental results on reflectivity and its dependence on the light propagation angle and concentration of the cyanie dyes are in agreement with the theoretical calculations.
We have investigated the lasing properties of several luminescent conducting polymers, i.e. DOO-PPV and the bi- substituted polyacetylenes PDPA-nBu, and PHxPA, dissolved in various polar and non-polar solvents. PPV polymers emit with high quantum efficiencies in broad emission bands cantered in the orange/red region of the spectrum, depending on the solvent, and the PDPA polymers emit in the blue/green region. Our tested laser resonators include polymer solutions excited with 100 ps pulses from a regeneratively amplified mode-locked Nd:YAG laser. We obtain pulsed, low-threshold laser operation with repetition rate of up to 1 kHz. Resulting mainly from recent reported originally in the literature. The dependencies of threshold pump energy and output versus input power characteristics on material parameters are investigated for a fixed optical gain length. The results are compared with the standard Rhodamine 590 organic dye system used in the same wavelength regions. We have observed that the well know phenomenon of 'concentration quenching' in dye molecules does not happen in polymers. Spectral narrowing in PDPA-nBu solution, emitting near 500 nm, is also obtained for the first time.
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