Control over polarization of vertically emitting random lasers based on dye doped nematic liquid crystals by applying a transverse electric field locally

Flexible control over random lasers (RLs) is highly desired. In this manuscript, a control over the polarization of random lasing emitted vertically from dye doped nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cell by the transverse component of a local ac electric field was demonstrated. The polarizing direction of the RL could be tuned continuously and monotonously with the increase of the field strength, from the direction along the NLC director without an applied electric field. The maximum rotation angle of the polarizing direction reached nearly 90° at the applied voltage of 200 V (root-mean-square value) across the 230 μm wide slit. The degree of polarization declined from 1 at zero voltage, and after reaching the minimum rose with the field strength. The lasing spectrum consists of sharp spikes corresponding to the resonant modes for all the applied voltages. The mechanisms responsible for electrically tuning the polarization of the RL were discussed. Optimizing the voltage characteristic of the polarization tunability was suggested by the preliminary experimental results.