LASING EMISSION FROM AN EVAPORATING LAYERED MICRODROPLET

We report the first observations, to our knowledge, of lasing emission from a single, evaporating, layered, micrometer-sized droplet. The dr oplet consists of an approximately 7.9-mum-radius glass core covered b y a liquid shell of an initial 3 x 10(-4) M Rhodamine 6G dye-doped gly cerin/water solution. After pumping by a doubled (532 nm) Nd:YAG pulse d laser, droplet lasing occurs over a range of shell thicknesses from approximately 14.5 to approximately 0.4 mum. At the smallest shell thi ckness, a dramatic increase in both the number and intensity of the la sing peaks occurs, in addition to a large (>40-nm) blue shift in the s pectral bandwidth of lasing emission. A discussion of possible enhance ment mechanisms responsible for these novel findings is given.