Quantitative analysis of several random lasers

TL;DR

This paper establishes standardized data reporting criteria for random laser experiments, enabling quantitative comparisons and model validation, revealing that spike phenomena are consistent across various random lasers.

Contribution

It introduces minimal reporting standards for random laser experiments and models, facilitating objective comparisons and validation of theoretical predictions.

Findings

Spike properties are remarkably similar across different random lasers.

Most existing studies do not fulfill the proposed reporting standards.

The method allows for analysis of both published and new experimental data.

Abstract

We prescribe the minimal set of experimental data and parameters that should be reported for random-laser experiments and models. This prescript allows for a quantitative comparison between different experiments, and for a criterion whether a model predicts the outcome of an experiment correctly. In none of more than 150 papers on random lasers that we found these requirements were fulfilled. We have nevertheless been able to analyze a number of published experimental results and recent experiments of our own. Using our method we determined that the most intriguing property of the random laser (spikes) is in fact remarkably similar for different random lasers.