Continuous spatial tuning of laser emissions with tuning resolution less than 1 nm in a wedge cell of dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystals

Abstract

We report the design and fabrication of a wedge structured CLC film incorporating a spatial gradient of a chiral dopant concentration. A continuous spatial laser tuning in the broad visible spectral range with tuning resolution less than 1 nm is demonstrated, which renders a CLC-based micron-sized laser an important continuously tunable laser device. © 2010 Optical Society of America.