Random laser and stimulated Raman scattering in compressible porous polymeric foam

Abstract In this work, Random laser (RL) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) are investigated using Rhodamine 6G ethanol solution in poly (melamine formaldehyde) foam with micro/nano-sized porous structures. At low dye concentration, the RL containing multiple discrete narrow peaks is observed in both its natural and compressed state of foam. It is found that the cavity length in the compressed state is significantly shorter through the power Fourier transform of the spectra. At high dye concentration, in the natural state of the foam, the coexistence of the RL and SRS is observed, while only the SRS peaks appear in the compressed state. It may provide a novel approach to achieving mode-controllable RL emission.