Doped mesoporous silica fibers: A new laser material

Communication: The fabrication of a laser based on mesoporous fibers is sho wn to be possible, demonstrating for the first time that mesostructural sys tems can be applied as advanced optical materials. The amplification of a g uided mode in the fiber and the resulting, gain-narrowed emission (illustra ted on the cover of this issue) are reported. It is stressed that the syste m used-a composite containing the dye rhodamine 6G-is a relatively simple t ype of laser material and better results can be expected in thp future with different types of lasing guests in mesoporous fibers.