title: Stimulated light emission in dense fog confined inside a porous glass matrix.
abstract: We report on light amplification through stimulated emission in a dielectrically disordered medium. Liquid fragments confined in the solid matrix of porous quartz layers result in a random fluctuation of the dielectric function, and dye molecules embedded in the voids yield optical gain. The level of opacity is tunable by the ambient vapor pressure of the dielectric substance. In the multiple scattering regime, a strong intensity enhancement of the dye emission accompanied by significant spectral narrowing is observed above the threshold for a layer being in the opalescence state.
authors.affiliation: Physik-Department E16, Technische Universität München, D-85747 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kovalev
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Künzner
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diener
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujii