Random lasers for broadband directional emission

Broadband coherent light sources are becoming increasingly important for sensing and spectroscopic applications, especially in the mid-infrared and terahertz (THz) spectral regions, where the unique absorption characteristics of a whole host of molecules are located. The desire to miniaturize such light emitters has recently led to spectacular advances, with compact on-chip lasers that cover both of these spectral regions. The long wavelength and small size of the sources result in a strongly diverging laser beam that is difficult to focus on the target that one aims to perform spectroscopy with. Here, we introduce an unconventional solution to this vexing problem, relying on a random laser to produce coherent broadband THz radiation as well as an almost diffraction-limited far-field emission profile. Our random lasers do not require any fine tuning and thus constitute a promising example of practical device applications for random lasing. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America