Sol–Gel ZnO–SiO ₂ Composite Waveguide Ultraviolet Lasers

Random laser action with coherent feedback is realized in ZnO-SiO/sub 2/ composite films, which consists of ZnO clusters embedded in SiO/sub 2/ dielectric matrix prepared by sol-gel technique. The films are deposited on silicon substrate with a SiO/sub 2/ buffer layer to form a waveguide structure. Ultraviolet lasing at room temperature is observed from the composite films with ZnO : SiO/sub 2/ molar ratio varying between 1 : 5 and 1 : 30. The corresponding lasing wavelength and linewidth under 355-nm optical excitation are found to be /spl sim/388 nm and less than 0.6 nm, respectively. Our experiment has shown that the proper control of light confinement inside the random cavities leads to coherent random lasing.