Enhancing the performance of random lasers: Effects of localised surface plasmons and resonance energy transfer

We investigate the effect of different gain media and different scattering media in random lasers. We demonstrate an increase in the emission intensity and efficiency of random lasing by incorporating gold rather than dielectric alumina nanoparticles. There is a trade-off between enhancing the random laser performance due to the localised surface plasmon resonance field effects and reduction in performance due to fluorescence quenching by the gold nanoparticles. We use fluorescence resonant energy transfer between dye molecules to extend the wavelength range of emission.