Optical Features of Spherical Gold Nanoparticle-Doped Solid-State Dye Laser Medium

The development of a new laser medium based on gold nanoparticle/dye-doped polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) has been investigated. In particular, gold nanoparticles with small (16 nm diameter) spherical shape strongly influenced the absorption and fluorescence emission spectra of [2-[2-[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]ethenyl]-6-methyl-4 H -pyran-4-ylidene]-propanedinitrile (DCM) laser dye. Fluorescence quenching and enhancement of DCM emission were observed for various concentrations of gold nanoparticles (GNPs). Fluorescence intensity enhancement was recorded for the sample containing 1.5 × 10 10 par/mL GNPs and doped with 3 × 10 −5 mol/L DCM. Thermal photodegradation was significantly decreased by using low pump energy for laser emission.