Direct laser writing for nanoporous liquid core laser sensors.

We report the fabrication of nanoporous liquid core lasers via direct laser writing based on two-photon absorption in combination with thiolene-chemistry. As gain medium Rhodamine 6G was embedded in the nanoporous polybutadiene matrix. The lasing devices with thresholds of 19 mu J/mm(2) were measured to have bulk refractive index sensitivities of 169 nm/RIU at a laser wavelength of 600 nm, demonstrating strongly increased overlap of the modes with the analyte in comparison to solid state evanescent wave sensors. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America