Room‐Temperature Low‐Threshold Plasmonic Nanolaser through Mode‐Tailoring at Communication Wavelengths

Abstract

Plasmonic nanolasers have shown unique potential for on-chip optical interconnects at optical communication wavelengths because of their ultra-small physical volumes beyond the diffraction limit. However, the high threshold and associated power consumption are key remaining challenges due to the long-recognized intrinsic plasmonic absorption and extrinsic losses related to the inevitable fabrication imperfections and the resulting rough surfaces or interfaces. This article demonstrates a new threshold-reduction strategy in a silver-cup plasmonic nanolaser by selectively confining plasmonic modes at the high-quality naturally cleaved surfaces at the bottom, while avoiding the rough etched surfaces of the sidewall. Through size control and modal design, lasing preferentially occurs via the bottom whispering gallery plasmonic mode with a large quality factor, small modal volume, and robust performance largely immune to fabrication imperfections. The nanolaser has a subwavelength volume of 0.02𝝀 3 near 𝝀 = 1.55 µm with a record-low threshold of 20.1 kW cm −2 for a near-infrared plasmonic nanolaser at room temperature under optical pumping. Importantly, the laser becomes the first near-infrared plasmonic nanolaser to meet the power-consumption requirement of less than 10 fJ bit −1 , providing one of the rarely available on-chip sources with a small footprint and low power consumption for the photonic integrated circuits.

An electrically driven exciton–polariton microlaser diode based on a ZnO:Ga microribbon heterojunction

“…With extraordinary behaviors, low-dimensional micro/nanolasing devices have captured the focus of extensive research for their feasibility in advancing the fields of integrated photonics, optoelectronics, medicine, and biology. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Lowdimensional semiconductor structures (e.g., nanowires, microwires, microribbons, and microdisks) are ideal for constructing minimized coherent light sources because of their advantages, such as regular morphologies, distinguished microcavity performances, high crystal quality, well-faced crystalline structures, considerably high-energy efficiency, and low-cost fabrication process. [7][8][9][10][11] According to the difference in cavity structures, microlasers can be classified into whispering-gallery-mode (WGM), Fabry-Perot (F-P) mode, random mode, etc.…”

Advancements in nanoscale coherent emitters: The development of substrate-free surface plasmon nanolasers

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10] Miniaturized lasers have since become indispensable for various applications, including communication technology, biomedical sensing, data transmission, data storage, integrated optical circuits, and holographic displays. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] However, traditional lasers based on optical resonators can only have their physical volume reduced to (λ/n). 3 This limitation renders the laser volume incompatible with existing microelectronic devices, thereby ARTICLE pubs.aip.org/aip/app impeding progress in optical integrated circuits, microdisplays, wearable devices, and biomedical sensing.…”