Hexagonal microlasers based on organic dyes in nanoporous crystals

Molecular sieves, such as nanoporous AlPO4-5, can host a wide variety of la ser active dyes. We embeded pyridine-2 molecules as a representative of a c ommercially available dye which fits into the channel pores of the host mat rix. Many efficient dye molecules, such as rhodamines, do not fit into the pores. But modifying the structure of the dyes to appear like the used temp lates allows us to increase the amount of encapsulated dyes. The properties of resulting microlasers depend on size and shape of the microresonators, and we discuss a model for microscopic hexagonal ring resonators. In terms of pump needed to reach lasing threshold molecular sieve microlasers are co mparable to VCSELs. For dyes that fit into the pores we observed a partial regeneration of photo-induced damage.