Metallic subwavelength-cavity semiconductor nanolasers

Ding, Kang; Ning, Cun‐Zheng

doi:10.1038/lsa.2012.20

Cited by 185 publications

(149 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…10,23,24 Furthermore, a new research field has emerged from the use of plasmonic effects, 25 which can lead to systems with drastically reduced optical mode volume and increased light-matter coupling efficiency compared to purely photonic systems. These prospects have stimulated work on plasmonic lasers, 16,26 culminating in the recent demonstration of a self-assembled quantum-dot (QD) transition coupled to a plasmonic resonance. 27 With an appropriate choice of parameter values, e.g., for the confinement factor and the intracavity optical loss, the theoretical approach described in this review applies equally well to these new and exciting systems, as well as to conventional photonic lasers.…”

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confidence: 99%

Emission properties of nanolasers during the transition to lasing

2014

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This review addresses ongoing discussions involving nanolaser experiments, particularly those related to thresholdless lasing or few-emitter devices. A quantum-optical (quantum-mechanical active medium and radiation field) theory is used to examine the emission properties of nanolasers under different experimental configurations. The active medium is treated as inhomogeneously broadened semiconductor quantum dots embedded in a quantum well, where carriers are introduced via current injection.Comparisons are made between a conventional laser and a nanolaser with a spontaneous emission factor of unity, as well as a laser with only a few quantum dots providing the gain. It is found that the combined exploration of intensity, coherence time, photon autocorrelation function and carrier spectral hole burning can provide a unique and consistent picture of nanolasers in the new regimes of laser operation during the transition from thermal to coherent emission. Furthermore, by reducing the number of quantum dots in the optical cavity, a clear indication of non-classical photon statistics is observed before the single-quantum-dot limit is reached. Keywords: nanolasers; optoelectronics; photon statistics; quantum light sources; quantum optics; semiconductor quantum dots; thresholdless lasing FROM CONVENTIONAL TO NANOLASERS Advances in nanofabrication have drastically reduced the size and increased the quality of optical cavities, enabling optical components with dimensions near the diffraction limit. 1-3 Among the driving forces for substantial miniaturization of lasers are technological applications, such as optical interconnects for information processing and communications, where reducing the power consumption is a priority. 4 From a research viewpoint, such efforts are motivated by a new quantum limit that is reachable with nanolasers consisting of a few emitters [5][6][7] or even a single emitter [8][9][10] and low intracavity photon numbers sustained by stimulated emission. 11 Entering the regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), nanolasers can provide non-classical light for applications in quantum information. 12 Novel nano-optical structures, such as pillar vertical-cavity surfaceemitting lasers, microdisks, photonic lattices, nanowires and plasmonic resonators, 13-16 enable the extension of optical-mode confinement from one-dimensional to three-dimensional (3D). The features of 3D mode confinement include spectrally widely separated cavity modes, allowing for the possibility of only one mode overlapping with the spontaneous emission spectrum. CQED phenomena include the enhancement 17 or inhibition 18 of spontaneous emission.The spontaneous emission factor b is a quantitative measure of optical resonator control over spontaneous emission. This factor is defined as the spontaneous emission rate into the laser mode divided by the total spontaneous emission rate. For small values of b, which are typical for conventional lasers, the onset of stimulated emission produces a distinct jump in output intensity. Rec...

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confidence: 99%

Emission properties of nanolasers during the transition to lasing

2014

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“…S emiconductor nanowire (NW) lasers provide the potential to generate highly localized, intense monochromatic optical fields in a geometry that is very well suited to an efficient coupling to highly integrated nanophotonic elements and optical circuits [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . Indeed, the high refractive index of typical semiconductor materials allows the physical size of lasers to be scaled down to only a few hundred nanometres, while the unique NW geometry naturally facilitates low-loss optical waveguiding and optical recirculation in the active region.…”

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Lasing from individual GaAs-AlGaAs core-shell nanowires up to room temperature

et al. 2013

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Semiconductor nanowires are widely considered to be the next frontier in the drive towards ultra-small, highly efficient coherent light sources. While NW lasers in the visible and ultraviolet have been widely demonstrated, the major role of surface and Auger recombination has hindered their development in the near infrared. Here we report infrared lasing up to room temperature from individual core-shell GaAs-AlGaAs nanowires. When subject to pulsed optical excitation, NWs exhibit lasing, characterized by single-mode emission at 10 K with a linewidth o60 GHz. The major role of non-radiative surface recombination is obviated by the presence of an AlGaAs shell around the GaAs-active region. Remarkably low threshold pump power densities down to B760 W cm À 2 are observed at 10 K, with a characteristic temperature of T 0 ¼ 109 ± 12 K and lasing operation up to room temperature. Our results show that, by carefully designing the materials composition profile, high-performance infrared NW lasers can be realised using III/V semiconductors.

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“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] In particular, the enhancement of optical emission processes via Purcell effect 14 with subwavelength mode volume may offer a lower lasing threshold, a stronger luminescence intensity, and a higher modulation bandwidth, and thus has been the central theme in nano-photonics related research fields. The demand of a subwavelength mode volume can be fulfilled by appropriately designing a metallic nanocavity operating close to the surface plasmon resonance frequency.…”

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confidence: 99%

Optical properties of organic-silicon photonic crystal nanoslot cavity light source

Yang

Lin

et al. 2017

AIP Advances

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We theoretically study a dielectric photonic crystal nanoslot cavity immersed in an organic fluid containing near-infrared dyes by means of a full rate equation model including the complete cavity QED effects. Based on the modeling results, we numerically design an organic-silicon cavity light source in which its mode volume, quality factor, and far-field emission pattern are optimized for energy-efficient, high-speed applications. Dye quantum efficiency improved by two orders of magnitude and 3dB modulation bandwidth of a few hundred GHz can be obtained.

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Metallic subwavelength-cavity semiconductor nanolasers

Cited by 185 publications

References 59 publications

Emission properties of nanolasers during the transition to lasing

Emission properties of nanolasers during the transition to lasing

Lasing from individual GaAs-AlGaAs core-shell nanowires up to room temperature

Optical properties of organic-silicon photonic crystal nanoslot cavity light source

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