Brief history of spaser from conception to the future

Abstract

A history and a glimpse into the future of spaser (acronym for "surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation") is provided. The spaser (also called a plasmonic nanolaser) is an active nanosystem including a gain medium and a nanoplasmonic metal core. It generates coherent intense nanolocalized fields. Theoretically predicted in 2003 by Bergman and Stockman, the spaser grew into a large fundamental research and application field with thousands of publications. We review a few of them to illustrate the most important and general fundamental properties of the spaser. We also review some selected applications of spasers, in particular, to ultrasensing and biomedical problems, concentrating on cancer-cell theranostics (therapeutics and diagnostics). In conclusion, we attempt to glimpse into the future by predicting that the next big development of the spasers will be topological nano-optics, and its "killer" application will be ultrafast, high-density on-chip communications for future information processing.

Applications of Hybrid Metal‐Dielectric Nanostructures: State of the Art

“…For example, an InGaN-GaN core-shell nanorod on a 5-nm SiO 2 /Ag substrate, [345] a GaN NW on a 8-nm SiO 2 /Al substrate, [346] and a ZnO NW on a 5nm SiO 2 /Al substrate. [347] However, more recently, lead halide perovskites [348,349] have also [337] Copyright 2020, The Authors. Published by SPIE.…”

“…The right panel illustrates a schematic of the spasing mechanism: energy levels of the gain medium are depicted to the left and those corresponding to the plasmonic core (the nanoshell in this case) are shown to the right. Reproduced under the terms and conditions of the CC BY 4.0 license [337]. Copyright 2020, The Authors.…”

Three-level Spaser System: a Semi-Classical Analysis

“…In nanoplasmonics, the light is confined within a sub-wavelength scale, which results in a strong enhancement of the optical field. Some of the notable application of nanoplasmonics are in the areas of near-field optics [4,5], bio-sensing [6][7][8], surface plasmonbased photo-detectors [9,10], spaser [11][12][13] and many others. Spaser (surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), which has experienced a vast development over the last decade, plays a special role in this list.…”

Laser: sixty years of advancement

“…15 The other discusses lasers of such a small size that they should not exist in traditional laser physics. 16 These nanolasers have opened up a new chapter in laser science: surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (spaser) with myriad new applications in ultrasensing, biology and high-density on-chip communications.Over two years since its inception, Advanced Photonics has covered the new trends in lasers faithfully, and we will continue to report many new advancements in lasers and laser applications in the years to come.…”

“…15 The other discusses lasers of such a small size that they should not exist in traditional laser physics. 16 These nanolasers have opened up a new chapter in laser science: surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (spaser) with myriad new applications in ultrasensing, biology and high-density on-chip communications.…”