Paulo C. de Oliveira

Measurement of Gaussian laser beam radius using the knife-edge technique: improvement on data analysis

We revisited the well known Khosrofian and Garetz inversion algorithm [Appl. Opt.22, 3406-3410 (1983)] that was developed to analyze data obtained by the application of the traveling knife-edge technique. We have analyzed the approximated fitting function that was used for adjusting their experimental data and have found that it is not optimized to work with a full range of the experimentally-measured data. We have numerically calculated a new set of coefficients, which makes the approximated function suitable for a full experimental range, considerably improving the accuracy of the measurement of a radius of a focused Gaussian laser beam.

TiO2@Silica nanoparticles in a random laser: Strong relationship of silica shell thickness on scattering medium properties and random laser performance

A TiO2@Silica nanoparticle has been introduced in a random laser. TiO2 particles with an average diameter of 0.41 μm were coated with silica shells of different thicknesses. Strong dependency of silica shell thickness on the medium scattering strength was found. A mathematical relationship between the scattering mean free path, random laser threshold, and random laser efficiency was developed. Higher efficiency, lower laser threshold, narrower bandwidth, and longest photobleaching lifetime were obtained in the random laser that had increased silica shell thickness. Optical colloidal stability and light coupling enhancement with scattering particles, provided by silica shell, should lead to improved laser performance.

Random Lasing at Localization Transition in a Colloidal Suspension (TiO2@Silica)

Anderson localization of light and random lasing in this critical regime is an open research frontier, which besides being a basic research topic could also lead to important applications. This article investigates the random laser action at the localization transition in a strongly disordered scattering medium composed of a colloidal suspension of core–shell nanoparticles (TiO2@Silica) in ethanol solution of Rhodamine 6G. The classical superfluorescence band of the random laser was measured separately by collecting the emission at the back of the samples, showing a linear dependence with pumping fluence without gain depletion. However, frontal collection showed saturation of the absorption and emission. Narrow peaks of approximately equal intensity are observed on top of the classical superfluorescence band, indicating suppression of the interaction between the peaks modes. The linewidth of these peaks is lower than that of the passive modes of the scattering medium. A method called fraction of absorbed pumping allowed us to infer that this peak’s mode (localized modes) is confined to a shallow region near the input-pumping border.

Thermal lens spectrometry: Optimizing amplitude and shortening the transient time

Based on a model introduced by Shen et al. for cw laser induced mode-mismatched dual-beam thermal lens spectrometry (TLS), we explore the parameters related with the geometry of the laser beams and the experimental apparatus that influence the amplitude and time evolution of the transient thermal lens (TL) signal. By keeping the sample cell at the minimum waist of the excitation beam, our results show that high amplitude TL signals, very close to the optimized value, combined with short transient times may be obtained by reducing the curvature radius of the probe beam and the distance between the sample cell and the detector. We also derive an expression for the thermal diffusivity which is independent of the excitation laser beam waist, considerably improving the accuracy of the measurements. The sample used in the experiments was oleic acid, which is present in most of the vegetable oils and is very transparent in the visible spectral range.

Random Lasing of Rhodamine 6G Solution Containing TiO2:Silica Core:Shell Nanoparticles

High efficiency and low rate of photodegradation was obtained in a random laser suspending TiO2@Silica nanoparticles in ethanol solution of Rhodamine 6G. The TiO2 nanoparticles were coated with a silica shell prepared via Stober method.

Random laser action in aqueous solutions

We show experimental results on random laser action of rhodamine 6G in aqueous solutions containing alumina particles and SDS with high efficient energy conversion. The threshold is inversely proportional to the SDS concentration.