Optofluidic FRET microlasers based on surface-supported liquid microdroplets

Abstract

We demonstrate optofluidic microlasers using highly efficient non-radiative Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) for pumping of gain medium placed within liquid microdroplets situated on a superhydrophobic surface. Microdroplets generated from a mixture of ethylene glycol, glycerol, and water and stained with the FRET donor–acceptor dye pair Rhodamine 6G-Rhodamine 700 serve as active optical resonant cavities hosting high-quality whispering gallery modes. Upon direct optical pumping of the donor with a pulsed laser, lasing is observed in the emission band of the acceptor as a result of efficient FRET coupling between the acceptor and donor molecules. FRET lasing is characterized for different acceptor and donor concentrations, and threshold pump fluences of acceptor lasing as low as 6.3 mJ cm−2 are demonstrated. We also verify the dominance of the non-radiative FRET over cavity-assisted radiative energy transfer for the range of parameters studied in the experiments.