Physics and Applications of High‐β Micro‐ and Nanolasers

Abstract

Figure 1. Graphical illustration of the transition from macroscopic to nanolasers with accompanying physical characteristics.

“Phase transitions” in small systems: Why standard threshold definitions fail for nanolasers

“…However, it became soon evident that the cavity volume reduction was calling into question the recognition of threshold [6,9], necessary for ensuring the coherence properties of the emitted field. Since then, the definition of laser threshold has become a strongly debated issue which has not only engaged the scientific community [18][19][20][21][22][23][24], but even prompted a top journal to issue guidelines for acceptance of manuscripts which claimed lasing at the nanoscale [25]; curiously, one of the best indicators for coherence (second-order zerodelay autocorrelation [26]) was left out of the list [25]. At the end of this manuscript we will partly understand a possible rationale for this choice, although the autocorrelation remains one of the best tools for gaining insight into laser characterization.…”

“…The interest behind the scale reduction is twofold: on the one hand enabling applications which range from faster modulation speed for telecommunications [4,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33] to high-density optical chips which hold high hopes for lower energy consumption in datacenters [30,[34][35][36][37][38]; on the other hand gaining a clear understanding of the physics of nanodevices to enable controlled applications in the field of fully or partially coherent sources [23,24], such as illumination [39] or sensing [40].…”

“…In the absence of a stability analysis, this fact could be attributed to an unknown physical property which decouples the dynamics of photons and carriers. Instead, it simply amounts to a strong damping of the oscillation amplitude in a single cycle 24 , as can be seen by comparing the oscillation frequency coming from λ i and the damping rate (λ r ).…”

Nanolasers with Feedback as Low-Coherence Illumination Sources for Speckle-Free Imaging: A Numerical Analysis of the Superthermal Emission Regime

“…Since the first demonstration by Maiman in 1960, lasers have become indispensable light sources that enable a wide range of consumer technologies and data communication systems while also promoting fundamental research in different fields [1]. Technological applications have also driven the search for miniaturization [2][3][4][5], which has attained, with advanced nanotechnology and nanofabrication, ultra-compact dimensions [6]. Initiated with the Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) [7] and passing through microdisks lasers (e.g., in whispering gallery configurations [8]), photonic crystal lasers [9] and plasmonic nanolasers [4,[10][11][12], the cavity volume has shrunk to subwavelength size.…”

Large‐Area Lasing in Nanoscale Complex Media: The Critical Role of Local Dielectric Environment

“…To further reduce the footprint of laser devices while improving their efficiency, other lasing architectures have been envisioned and, in the process, complex lasers that depart from the original laser cavity geometry were developed. A few examples of complex lasers are nanolasers, [5][6][7][8] plasmonic lasers, [9][10][11][12] random lasers, [13][14][15][16] and topological lasers. [17][18][19] Random lasers, in particular, have gained significant interest as they uniquely provide a low-cost, solutionprocessable method to achieve lasing.…”