High-Operation-Temperature Plasmonic Nanolasers on Single-Crystalline Aluminum

Abstract

The recent development of plasmonics has overcome the optical diffraction limit and fostered the development of several important components including nanolasers, low-operation-power modulators, and high-speed detectors. In particular, the advent of surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) nanolasers has enabled the development of coherent emitters approaching the nanoscale. SPP nanolasers widely adopted metal-insulator-semiconductor structures because the presence of an insulator can prevent large metal loss. However, the insulator is not necessary if permittivity combination of laser structures is properly designed. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a SPP nanolaser with a ZnO nanowire on the as-grown single-crystalline aluminum. The average lasing threshold of this simple structure is 20 MW/cm(2), which is four-times lower than that of structures with additional insulator layers. Furthermore, single-mode laser operation can be sustained at temperatures up to 353 K. Our study represents a major step toward the practical realization of SPP nanolasers.

Room Temperature Electrically Driven Ultraviolet Plasmonic Lasers

“…Since the Ag film is directly deposited onto the dielectric layer, the smooth surface of the dielectric layer will favor the formation of smooth metallic film at the metal/dielectric interface, reducing considerably the scattering loss of SPPs. [7a,12]…”

Surface roughness effects on aluminium-based ultraviolet plasmonic nanolasers

“…In past decades, several applications of plasmonic devices have emerged in various fields, such as optical integrated circuits, sensing, optical storage, and photovoltaic devices2345. During the past years, plasmonic cavities surrounded by noble metals have been successfully used in nanolasers to provide a way to reach the diffraction limit678910. However, large losses from metals seriously limit the practical applications for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs).…”

“…The sample fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy system is single-crystalline (sample A) and the sample fabricated by electron-gun evaporator is polycrystalline (sample B). In the proposed structures, the hybrid plasmonic gap modes, concentrated inside the dielectric gaps between the gain material nanowires and metallic interfaces, are the most promising modes for lasing67891013. Since the guided plasmonic mode profiles strongly overlap with the thin gaps, the increase in intrinsic modal loss caused by surface scattering and ohmic damping from SPPs on the rough metallic surface can be significant.…”

Hot electron photodetection with spectral selectivity in the C-band using a silicon channel-separated gold grating structure

“…Plasmonic nanostructures have received extensive attention due to their ability to increase the harvesting of incident light from free space and concentrate electromagnetic energy to nanoscale volumes through the excitation of surface plasmons (SPs). With this outstanding property, plasmonic nanostructures have been widely used to enhance the performance of optoelectronic devices, such as photocatalysis devices [1,2], solar energy harvesting devices [3,4], lasing devices [5,6], imaging devices [7], monitoring devices [8], and photodetectors [9][10][11][12][13][14]. SP-based photodetectors generally have higher external quantum efficiencies and responsivities than conventional photodetectors because of the enhanced light absorption and the ability to generate hot electrons through the nonradiative decay of SPs [15,16].…”