American Institute of Physics, Applied Physics Letters, 7(102), p. 073101
DOI: 10.1063/1.4790646
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We demonstrate optically pumped polymer band-edge lasers based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab fabricated by nanoimprint lithography (NIL). Lasing was obtained at the photonic band-edge, where the light exhibits a low group velocity at the Γ point of the triangular lattice photonic crystal band structure. The active medium was composed of a dye chromophore-loaded polymer matrix directly patterned in a single step by nanoimprint lithography. Plane-wave and finite difference time domain algorithms were used to predict experimental lasing frequencies and the lasing thresholds obtained at different Γ points. A low laser threshold of 3 μJ/mm2 was achieved in a defect-free photonic crystal thus showing the suitability of nanoimprint lithography to produce cost-efficient optically pumped lasers.