Random lasing in Eu³⁺doped borate glass-ceramic embedded with Ag nanoparticles under direct three-photon excitation

We report the observation of random lasing from Eu3+doped borate glass ceramic films embedded with Ag nanoparticles through three-photon absorption at room temperature. Under 1179 nm ultrashort femtosecond pulse excitation, discrete sharp peaks with linewidth ∼0.4 nm emerge randomly from a broad emission band with peak wavelength at ∼612 nm. In addition, the number of sharp peaks increases with the increase of excitation power. We also show that the emission spectrum varies with different observation angles and the corresponding lasing threshold is dependent on the excitation area. Hence, we verify unambiguously that the Eu3+doped borate glass ceramic film supports random lasing action via three-photon absorption excitation. In addition, Ag nanoparticles, which act as light scatterers, allow the formation of random microcavities inside the bulk film.