Organic Lasers: Fundamentals, Developments, and Applications

In the past 30 years, organic conjugated molecules received a lot of attention in research because of their unique combination of active properties typical of semiconductors and the technological appeal typical of plastic materials. Among the different applications proposed for organic materials, organic lasers are quickly approaching the performance required for application, while the research on novel active materials is still ongoing. The book presents the current state of the art of the understanding of the physics of optical gain in organic systems and provides a complete description of the most recent advances in organic lasers, including both the structures currently closest to application as well as the fascinating and unconventional systems. The chapters are written by authors with wide experience in the field. The book starts with the basic aspects of the optical gain process and then progressively introduces the most advanced research topics, discussing the state of the art of active material development and the physics and development of fascinating systems for organic lasers, such as random lasers and microcavities in strong coupling, and concludes with a description of the physics and technology of external cavity and distributed feedback lasers. The book is unique that it covers basic aspects, technological aspects, and systems still a subject of basic science research.