Spontaneous crystalization and aggregation of DCNP pyrazoline-based organic dye as a way to tailor random lasers

The 3-(1,1-dicyanoethenyl)-1-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole (DCNP) compound is showing versatile optical features including nonlinear optical effects, photoluminescence and stimulated emission resulting from its molecular design as well as polar alignment in crystal lattice. We present detailed studies carried out for the DCNP compound on a photoluminescence phenomenon, showing that its emission properties are strongly different for molecular and aggregated forms. Experiments have proved that stimulated emission can occur only from the crystaline form of DCNP and the precipitation of it from a solution leads to the constitution of gain and different, random feedback mechanisms depending on aggregate size. The immobilization of DCNP crystals and the controlled crystalization in a viscous biopolymeric matrix have been utilized to generate random micro-cavities, that support weak light localization and coherent random laser emission.