Self-organized optofluidic locking enables stable single-frequency lasing in dynamic liquid media
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Liquid-state lasers are promising wavelength-agile, reconfigurable coherent light sources, but fluid gain media introduce Brownian motion, thermal transport, and refractive-index fluctuations that destabilize single-frequency emission. Here, we demonstrate that nonequilibrium fluid fluctuations can instead be harnessed to stabilize lasing through optofluidic locking. In anisotropic colloidal nanoplatelets (CNPs), a weak auxiliary continuous-wave optical field induces collective particle migration, reorientation, and accumulation via coupled optical forces and convective flow. The resulting self-organized gain landscape suppresses cavity fluctuations, improves output stability by nearly three orders of magnitude, and reduces the lasing threshold by over 75%. Integrated with high-gain CdSe/CdSeS/CdZnS core/graded-crown/graded-shell nanoplatelets and a Littman-like external cavity, this mechanism enables stable single-frequency lasing with a side-mode suppression ratio above 31 dB, a 0.051 nm linewidth, and 170-nm single-mode tunability across engineered CNP gain media. We further demonstrate applications in WS 2 photoluminescence pumping and wavelength-tunable topological vertical-cavity lasing.
Source: Science Advances
Institutions: University of Macau, Sichuan University, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Harbin Institute of Technology, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Shanghai University, Shenzhen University, Tianjin University, University College London
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,500
Award: G5626900722
OpenAlex ID: W7214074989