Enhanced backscattering from organic laser gain media bounded with rough gold films

Abstract

The enhanced backscattering from organic laser gain media that are bounded with one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) rough metal films was investigated. We prepared several organic optical gain materials by doping laser-active dyes in matrices of acrylic polymers. These materials produced efficient and broadband fluorescence emission in the visible wavelengths during the pumping of a pulsed YAG or cw argon laser. These gain materials were sliced and coupled with 1-D or 2-D randomly rough gold films with large slopes. An experimental investigation was carried out with a He–Ne laser as the scattering source and the optical gain provided by a cw argon laser. The enhanced backscattering and the satellite peaks located about the enhanced-backscattering peak were obviously amplified, with their widths narrowed. These experimental results agree well with previous theoretical predictions.