Related papers: Self-organized lasers of reconfigurable colloidal …
Random lasers are highly configurable light sources that are promising for imaging and photonic integration. In this study, random lasing action was generated by optically pumping MBBA liquid crystals infiltrated with gold nanoparticles and…
Colloidal self-assembly -- the spontaneous organization of colloids into ordered structures -- has been considered key to produce next-generation materials. However, the present-day staggering variety of colloidal building blocks and the…
Colloidal molecules are designed to mimic their molecular analogues through their anisotropic shape and interactions. However, current experimental realizations are missing the structural flexibility present in real molecules thereby…
Manipulating the way in which colloidal particles self-organise is a central challenge in the design of functional soft materials. Meeting this challenge requires the use of building blocks that interact with one another in a highly…
Even though sunlight is by far the most abundant renewable energy source available to humanity, its dilute and variable nature has kept efficient ways to collect, store, and distribute this energy tantalisingly out of reach. Turning the…
A disordered structure embedding an active gain material and able to lase is called random laser (RL). The RL spectrum may appear either like a set of sharp resonances or like a smooth line superimposed to the fluorescence. A recent letter…
Although coherent light is usually required for the self-organization of regular spatial patterns from optical beams, we show that peculiar light matter interaction can break this evidence. In the traditional method to record laser-induced…
New materials aim at exploiting the great control of living organisms over molecular architectures and minerals. Optical biomimetics has been widely developed by microengineering, leading to photonic components with order resembling those…
Random lasers are unique systems where lasing occurs due to repetitive scattering in a disordered nanostructure. Previous descriptions of random lasing are numerous, however a full time-dependent theory that describes the introduction of…
A laser is not necessarily a sophisticated device: Pumping energy into an amplifying medium randomly filled with scatterers, a powder for instance, makes a perfect "random laser." In such a laser, the absence of mirrors greatly simplifies…
We investigate the formation and control of stationary optical patterns in a cold Rydberg atomic gas via double electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that, through the modulational instability of plane-wave state of a laser…
Light interference in strongly disordered photonic media can generate lasers where random modes are amplified in unpredictable way. The ease of fabrication, along with their low coherence caused by multiple small-linewidth peaks, made…
Self-organizations of ordered patterns in far-from-equilibrium many-body systems host fundamental importance in many disciplines. Meanwhile, complex systems often feature hierarchical structures with distinct scales for different layers,…
An active disordered medium able to lase is called a random laser (RL). We demonstrate random lasing due to inherent disorder in a dye circulated structured microfluidic channel. We consistently observe RL modes which are varied by changing…
Self-propelled colloidal particles exhibit rich non-equilibrium phenomena and have promising applications in fields such as drug delivery and self-assembled active materials. Previous experimental and theoretical studies have shown that…
Living neural networks emerge through a process of growth and self-organization that begins with a single cell and results in a brain, an organized and functional computational device. Artificial neural networks, however, rely on…
Light-activated self-propelled colloids are synthesized and their active motion is studied using optical microscopy. We propose a versatile route using different photoactive materials, and demonstrate a multiwavelength activation and…
Laser-induced modification of transparent solids by intense femtosecond laser pulses allows fast integration of nanophotonic and nanofluidic devices with controlled optical properties. So far, the local and dynamic nature of the…
The mode dynamics of a random laser is investigated in experiment and theory. The laser consists of a ZnCdO/ZnO multiple quantum well with air-holes that provide the necessary feedback. Time-resolved measurements reveal multimode spectra…
Biological motors are marvels of nature that inspire creation of their synthetic counterparts with comparable nanoscale dimensions, high efficiency and diverse functions. Molecular motors have been synthesized, but obtaining nanomotors…