Enhanced energy transfer between Co-dopants Pyronin-Y and Thionine incorporated into modified polymethyl methacrylate with addition of ZnO nanoparticles

•ZnO nanoparticles effectively transfer pump energy to the acceptor dye.•Slope efficiency was found to be 63.6%.•ZnO nanoparticles enhanced the absorption efficiency of the pump laser.

Using a prism dye cell arrangement, the study investigated spectral energy transfer between co-dopants Pyronin-Y and Thionine incorporated into ethanol-modified polymethyl methacrylate. The spectral parameters of the absorption and fluorescence spectra of the donor and acceptor dyes in the so designed solid-state dye laser were calculated theoretically. Fluorescence lasing properties and slope efficiency of the solid-state dye laser were investigated both with and without addition of ZnO nanoparticles. The dye pair generally improved lasing efficiency and tunability in the range from 582 to 689 nm.

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