Fluorescence, Gain, And Cavity Optimization In Micro-sized Polymer Dye Laser

It is said that the 21^st century is the century of Photonic, especially micro- and nano-photonics will give a wonderful show to develop our technology into a new level. The application of micro- and nano-photonics is immense. For example, in photonic integrated circuit, micro-size sensors and especially for Lab-On-a-Chip systems which is closely related with bio-medical sciences. Meanwhile, compare with traditional electronic circuits, the advantages of micro and nano photonic circuit is apparent such as the very large bandwidth in communication facilities and extremely high sensitivity as a micro-size sensor.The target of project in which the author involves is to design and manufacture micro- and nano-scaled polymeric components for nano-photonics, primarily lasers. Specifically, this master thesis is mainly dedicated to simulate micro-sized polymer dye laser, so that we can get a basic mode and an elementary expectation of the output performance of the laser which will be manufactured by nano-imprint lithography in the clean room.In this project, Comsol Multiphysics simulation software implementing finite element method is used to simulate the micro-laser cavity modes and output performance. First of all, by including the typical material properties such as optical loss of polymers, dispersion and the absorption, fluorescence and gain of the active material, the author simulates the laser's performance and expected results are obtained. Secondly, in order to improve the efficiency of the laser and reduce the thresh hold, the cavity is optimized by choosing the optimum output air gap. Meanwhile, Bragg grating reflector is introduced into the laser model mainly to increase laser output performance. Finally, the cavity robustness against some typical imperfections in the manufacturing process is tested and inspiring results shows that our laser is stable and can afford these typical defects.