Circularly polarized laser emission in optically active organic dye solutions.

The generation of circularly polarized laser emission (CPLE) in photonic devices has attracted increasing attention due to the prospects of using CP light in displaying technologies or advanced microscopies. Organic systems excel as laser materials across the whole visible spectrum, and despite many of them displaying circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), none have been shown thus far to amplify their own CPL, let alone generate CPLE. Consequently, there is still a need to find alternative CPLE organic devices. Herein we demonstrate an effective strategy for achieving strong levels of CPLE (|glum| ∼ 0.1-0.2) by using solutions of an achiral dye dissolved in optically active solvents to exploit the full potential of the dynamic birefringence induced by the intense and polarized laser pumping. The present approach enables changing the CPLE handedness by changing the handedness of the solvent optical activity, opening new avenues for developing cost-effective and easily processable chiro-photonic materials.