期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2010
卷号:107
期号:37
页码:16039-16042
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1003581107
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Optofluidic dye lasers hold great promise for adaptive photonic devices, compact and wavelength-tunable light sources, and micro total analysis systems. To date, however, nearly all those lasers are directly excited by tuning the pump laser into the gain medium absorption band. Here we demonstrate bioinspired optofluidic dye lasers excited by FRET, in which the donor-acceptor distance, ratio, and spatial configuration can be precisely controlled by DNA scaffolds. The characteristics of the FRET lasers such as spectrum, threshold, and energy conversion efficiency are reported. Through DNA scaffolds, nearly 100% energy transfer can be maintained regardless of the donor and acceptor concentration. As a result, efficient FRET lasing is achieved at an unusually low acceptor concentration of micromolar, over 1,000 times lower than that in conventional optofluidic dye lasers. The lasing threshold is on the order of {micro}J/mm2. Various DNA scaffold FRET lasers are demonstrated to illustrate vast possibilities in optofluidic laser designs. Our work opens a door to many researches and applications such as intracavity bio/chemical sensing, biocontrolled photonic devices, and biophysics.
关键词:fluorescence resonance energy transfer ; optofluidics ; ring resonators