title: Two-dimensional liquid crystal laser array.
abstract: A two-dimensional liquid crystal (LC) laser array has been demonstrated by photopumping a single LC sample using a lenslet array consisting of plano-convex microlenses. A 5 x 5 array of LC lasers (displaying evidence of mutual coherence) spaced by 1 mm inactive regions has been generated, which could be combined to yield a single monomode output and allows an almost 50-fold increase in energy density in comparison to a single-focus LC cavity. Furthermore, we have demonstrated how the individual and recombined emission spectra vary with different sample topologies and how polydomain samples can be used to generate a multiwavelength laser emission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering, Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics (CMMPE), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Philip J W
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hands
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.forename: Harry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Coles