Thermo-optic tuning of whispering gallery mode lasing from a dye-doped hollow polymer optical fiber.

We report temperature-induced tuning of whispering gallery mode (WGM) laser emission from a Rhodamine-B-doped polymethylmethacrylate hollow optical fiber. Lasing studies on dye-doped hollow fibers with different radii were carried out with optical pumping using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The observed lasing modes were confirmed as WGM emission with a high quality factor of 7.58×103. The diameter-dependent variation in lasing spectra of these hollow fibers was investigated. A tuning range of 0.44 nm with a sensitivity of 0.011 nm/°C was obtained for the lasing modes by varying the temperature from 25°C to 60°C from a dye-doped polymethylmethacrylate hollow fiber of diameter 305 µm.