: Muhammad Umar, Kyungtaek Min, Heonsu Jeon, and Sunghwan Kim

: Ann. Phys. 529(6), 1700034 (2017)

Organic distributed feedback (DFB) lasers can be useful photonic tools for biological applications where the roles of organic materials are important, because highly coherent single mode emission with broad tuning range can be obtained. However, the formulaic structures of organic lasers, and the uses of gain media as resonators themselves, are not suitable for inducing laser emission from irregular shaped gain media, such as dye-staining cells and tissues. Here, we report a reusable photonic template comprising an exceedingly thin and discrete titanium dioxide (TiO2) layer on a one-dimensional (1D) quartz grating to induce single mode DFB lasing from a variety of states of optical gain media. Using the same template, the external gain media of optically thick and thin casted film, liquid, and a free-standing thick film reveal single mode lasing with reliable performance. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the 25-nm thick TiO2 disconnected grating lines support a spatially confined DFB mode in the vertical direction, even under no index difference between superstrate and substrate. Additionally, not using the typical waveguide gain layer promises high sensitivity and detection limit in refractometric sensing. These results suggest that the photonic structure may serve as a versatile sensing or imaging platform in the biological and biomedical sciences.