Amplification and diffusion of spontaneous emission in strongly scattering medium

We experimentally examined the threshold of the spectral collapse in dye embedded in a strongly scattering medium as a function of the excitation beam diameter and the transport mean free path in order to find a condition to minimize the threshold. We found a critical transport mean free path, below which the threshold pulse energy is almost independent of the mean free path. Experimental observations are well explained by a theoretical model based on the rate and diffusion equations, which shows that the luminescence spectra are also dependent on the position in the medium. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics.[S0021-8979(00)05111-2].