A lasing mechanism based on absorption boundary of gain materials

A new kind of mechanism of lasing is investigated experimentally. It is quite different from the traditional laser with cavity and the random laser with random scattering. In this mechanism, the intensity-dependent refractive index effect and thermal lensing effects of the pump beam induce a large gradient of the refractive index in the gain material, which forms a passive equivalent boundary that provides the feedback in the lasing system. A real lasing system, a liquid disk laser, is performed, it achieves 2-D omnidirectional radiation with a high efficiency of 28%, its radiation spectral property can be explained by resonant Raman scattering.