Random Laser Emission in Rhodamine 6G-Incorporated Bacterial Nanocellulose Aerogels
Random lasers have diverse applications across biology, medicine, sensing, and imaging, driven by the continuous exploration of materials capable of laser generation. In this study, bacterial nanocellulose membrane aerogel matrices doped with rhodamine 6G were investigated to evaluate their potential for random laser emission, which was identified by the significant narrowing of the emission band, reducing the bandwidth emission from 40 to 5 nm, indicating the transition from spontaneous to stimulated emission. Additionally, the energy per threshold for achieving stimulated emission was determined to be approximately 0.4 mJ per pulse. The image processing was carried out using ImageJ and involved a quantitative analysis of SEM images of nanofibers, extracting key morphological and density parameters. The fiber density average measured was 1.5 × 109 cm–3, and the fiber thickness average was 75 nm. The scattering cross-section σs had an average of 14 × 10–6 cm2, and the free mean path (MFP) was 510 nm. This work demonstrates that bacterial nanocellulose aerogel samples can operate as an efficient random laser platform with incoherent feedback, bridging sustainable organic materials and disordered photonics.
Authors
- Leonardo De Boni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1875-1852)
- André L. S. Romero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9982-8171)
- Pablo I. R. Pincheira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0222-859X)
- Leonardo Marchiori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8360-5096)
- E Zampieri Neto
- Roberta S. Pugina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7468-3452)
- Sidney JL Ribeiro
- Anderson S. L. Gomes
- Beatriz D. Freitas
- Molíria V. dos Santos
- Vitor E. K. de Sá
- Marcelo da S. Cruz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7204-2603)
Institutions
- Universidad de La Frontera (CL)
- Universidade Federal de São Carlos (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (BR)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Hospital Universitário da Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Centro Universitário de Araraquara (BR)
- Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Optical Materials
- Published
- 2026-04-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaom.6c00091
- Primary Topic
- Random lasers and scattering media
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
- Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco
- Instituto Nacional de Fotônica
- Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico