An electrical injection metallic cavity nanolaser with azimuthal polarization

Abstract

We demonstrated for the first time an azimuthally polarized laser source from an electrically driven metallic cavity nanolaser with a physical cavity volume of 0.146 λ3 (λ = 1416 nm). Single TE01 mode lasing at 78 K was achieved by taking the advantages of the large free spectral range in such nanoscale lasers and the azimuthal polarization of lasing emission was verified experimentally. Mode shift controlled by device cavity radius was observed over a large wavelength range from 1.37 μm to 1.53 μm. Such metallic cavity nanolaser provides a compact electrically driven laser source for azimuthally polarized beam.

Record performance of electrical injection sub-wavelength metallic-cavity semiconductor lasers at room temperature

“…Finally, SiN thickness is a critical design optimization parameter. Though using thicker dielectric layer to reduce metal loss and improve the Q factor of a metallic cavity has been demonstrated [8], we did observe severe degradation of device performance in our own lasers with thick SiN (120 nm) due to insufficient heat dissipation and high surface recombination [30]. In this new generation of devices, we slightly increased the SiN thickness from 20 nm to 30 nm which led to an increase of cavity Q factor from 372 to 428.…”

Wavelength‐Tunable Micro/Nanolasers

“…Owing to these advantages, decreasing the physical size of a laser system has been one of the prevalent themes since the birth of lasers. Since 1992, the field of MNLs has witnessed the introduction of pioneering technologies ( Figure ) like microdisk lasers, photonic crystal lasers, and nanowire lasers, metallic‐coated nanolasers, plasmonic nanowire lasers, etc.…”

Invariance of optimal composite waveguide geometries with respect to permittivity of the metal cladding

“…The optimal shield reduces the metal loss without displacing too much of the gain medium and corresponds to the shield width that yields the minimum threshold gain. To date, researchers have reported a number of lasers, both optically and electrically driven, designed with an optimized shield to reduce the threshold of the lasing "photonic" mode [3][4][6][7][8].…”

“…Perhaps most obviously, different metals exhibit varying degrees of loss or, equivalently, the imaginary part of the electric permittivity, ε 00 M , differs for each metal. Additionally, metals adhere differently to the shield layer (usually SiO 2 or SiN [3][4][5][6][7][8]), react differently with etchants, and exhibit differing stability to the ambient environment. Thus, the ability to predict the behavior of a given CWG structure for a wide range of possible metal claddings holds significant value.…”