Experimental studies on output, spatial, and spectral characteristics of a microdroplet dye laser containing Intralipid as a highly scattering medium

Lasing characteristics of Rhodamine 6G dye-doped microdroplets containing highly scattering fat emulsion Intralipid-10% are studied experimentally. Noteworthy findings are that well-defined lasing threshold can be observed and one order or more magnitude enhancement of emission intensity with suitable (optimum) conditions of the Intralipid mixing ratio, in comparison with original neat-dye lasing microdroplets. We present and discuss the measured results of input-output intensities for different dye concentrations and dye-Intralipid mixing ratios in this high-gain laser dye-soft scatterer system and microscope images of spatial distribution of light emission from both the microdroplets containing neat-dye and dye-Intralipid mixture. It was found that almost no-lasing neat-dye microdroplets, which have either much higher or much lower dye concentration, can achieve lasing by substituting suitably certain amounts of the Intralipid, causing multiple light scattering. Spectral measurements of lasing outputs from the Rhodamine 6G dye-Intralipid microdroplets show the tendency of the disappearance of the well-known mode structures, owing to the morphology-dependent resonances of this microspherical cavity inherent to the neat-dye microdroplets. It is our belief that the present results make this novel method of dye-Intralipid microsystem very attractive for a variety of future applications, including diagnostic tools for highly sensitive detection and identification of small quantity objects and species embedded or hidden in highly scattering media, such as biological tissues and cellular structures.