Enhanced Laser Emission by Incorporating Helically\nTwisted Silver Nanoflakes within Polymer-Stabilized Cholesteric Liquid\nCrystals

The\ncharacteristics of the host in a liquid-crystal laser that\nenable it to emit light are of critical importance in determining\nthe potential applications of such devices. The incorporation of nanomaterials\ninto the host, which incorporates liquid crystals (LCs) to form an\nassembly, enhances their birefringence and contributes to the dipole\nmoment, thereby reducing pump energy consumption. In this research,\nsilver nanoflakes (Ag-NFs) were blended into the cholesteric liquid\ncrystal (CLC) hosts (CLCs-host), resulting in their helical twisting.\nThe incorporation of a small quantity of Ag-NFs not only enhanced\nthe reflection of the hybrid but also optimized the utilization of\npump energy to induce highly brightened lasing due to their excellent\nlocalized surface polarization resonance. The liquid-crystal-laser\nfabricated by blending 0.10 wt % Ag-NFs into polymer-stabilized CLCs\n(PSCLCs) containing 1 wt % reactive mesogens has been demonstrated\nto exhibit a lower pump energy consumption at 0.291 μJ/pulse.\nMoreover, the laser exhibited a higher lasing intensity by 16.2% improvement,\nsuperior time-luminance stability, and greater thermal resistance\nwithin the 26–38 °C range. The findings of this research\ncontribute to the advancement of random laser technology in a variety\nof fields and facilitate the development of high-performance optoelectronic\ndevices.