Part of the book: Holograms
The laser active structures with spatial modulation of lasing controlled by the transversely distributed excitation are implemented. The dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystal (DD CLC) and polymer were used as a laser active medium. The interference pattern of two coherent pumping beams was used for excitation of the laser layers. The second harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) was used for the pumping. The interference pattern of the pumping light was located in the plane of the laser active layer. The emission of lasers was observed perpendicular to laser active layers from the opposite side of the incidence of the pumping light. The periodical character of the modulation of intensity along cross section of the lasing depends and corresponds to the parameters of the interference pattern of the pumping. So, the emitted light field qualitatively looks like a diffraction from an elementary hologram, and obtained lasers can be called as active elementary hologram.
Part of the book: Holographic Materials and Optical Systems