title: Dye-activated hybrid organic/inorganic mesostructured titania waveguides.
abstract: A room-temperature synthesis route for the fabrication of a new type of hybrid organic/inorganic mesostructured material based on titania instead of silica as the inorganic component has been developed. This approach enables facile processing of the titania/block copolymer surfactant precursor solution into optically activated, transparent, and crack-free fibers and planar waveguides with adjustable thickness. Stabilization of the structures occurs upon solvent evaporation by formation of a solid, glasslike material without heat treatment. These dye-activated, high refractive index, titania-based composites show efficient waveguiding and mirrorless lasing at low thresholds without the need of an ultralow refractive index support layer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bartl
authors.forename: Shannon W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Boettcher
authors.forename: Evelyn L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Galen D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Stucky