Random lasing in uniform perovskite thin films

Following the very promising results obtained by the solar cell community, metal halide perovskite materials are increasingly attracting the attention of other optoelectronics researchers, especially for light emission applications. Lasing with both engineered and self-assembled resonator structures, such as microcrystal networks, has now been successfully observed, with the low cost and the simple solution-based process being a particular attraction. The ultimate in simplicity, however, would be to observe lasing from a continuous thin film, which has not been reported yet. Here, we show random lasing action from such a simple perovskite layer. Our lasers work at room temperature; they are deposited on unpatterned glass substrates and they exhibit a minimum threshold value of 10 µJ/cm2. By carefully controlling the solution processing conditions, we can determine whether random lasing occurs or not, using identical precursors. A rather special feature is that some of the films exhibit single and dual mode lasing action, which is rarely observed in random lasers. Our work fully exploits the simplicity of the solution-based process and thereby adds an important capability into the emerging field of perovskite-based light emitters.