Single-crystalline tower-like ZnO microrod UV lasers

High quality tower-like ZnO microrods with hexagonal cross-sections were fabricated by a simple reduction–oxidation process. By using the spatially resolved spectroscopic technique, the stable UV lasing was directly observed and further investigated systematically. Our results demonstrated that such tower-like microrods can function as novel cavity based microlasers, which could have potential applications in optoelectronics.