FRET lasing from self-assembled DNA tetrahedral nanostructures suspended in optofluidic droplet resonators

We demonstrate Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) lasing from self-assembled tetrahedral DNA complexes labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 dyes and suspended as a gain medium in aqueous microdroplet cavities deposited on a superhydrophobic surface. Threshold fluence and differential efficiency are characterized for DNA complexes containing 1Cy3-3Cy5 and 3Cy3-1Cy5. We demonstrate that at a constant Cy5 concentration, average threshold fluence is reduced 3 to 8 times and average differential efficiency is enhanced 6 to 30 times for 3Cy3-1Cy5 as compared to 1Cy3-3Cy5. Using 3Cy3-1Cy5 nanostructures, FRET lasing is observed at very low concentrations down to ∼ 1 μM. This work shows that optofluidic microlasers based on droplet resonators can be combined with DNA nanotechnology to explore applications in bio/chemical sensing and novel photonic devices.