Unusual scaling laws for plasmonic nanolasers beyond the diffraction limit

Suo Wang, Xing-Yuan Wang, Bo Li, Hua-Zhou Chen, Yi-Lun Wang, Lun Dai, Rupert F. Oulton and Ren-Min Ma ()
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Suo Wang: Peking University
Xing-Yuan Wang: Peking University
Bo Li: Peking University
Hua-Zhou Chen: Peking University
Yi-Lun Wang: Peking University
Lun Dai: Peking University
Rupert F. Oulton: Imperial College London
Ren-Min Ma: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Plasmonic nanolasers are a new class of amplifiers that generate coherent light well below the diffraction barrier bringing fundamentally new capabilities to biochemical sensing, super-resolution imaging, and on-chip optical communication. However, a debate about whether metals can enhance the performance of lasers has persisted due to the unavoidable fact that metallic absorption intrinsically scales with field confinement. Here, we report plasmonic nanolasers with extremely low thresholds on the order of 10 kW cm−2 at room temperature, which are comparable to those found in modern laser diodes. More importantly, we find unusual scaling laws allowing plasmonic lasers to be more compact and faster with lower threshold and power consumption than photonic lasers when the cavity size approaches or surpasses the diffraction limit. This clarifies the long-standing debate over the viability of metal confinement and feedback strategies in laser technology and identifies situations where plasmonic lasers can have clear practical advantage.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01662-6

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