Scalable single-mode surface-emitting laser via open-Dirac singularities

Rushin Contractor, Wanwoo Noh, Walid Redjem, Wayesh Qarony, Emma Martin, Scott Dhuey, Adam Schwartzberg and Boubacar Kanté ()
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Rushin Contractor: University of California Berkeley
Wanwoo Noh: University of California Berkeley
Walid Redjem: University of California Berkeley
Wayesh Qarony: Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Emma Martin: University of California Berkeley
Scott Dhuey: Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Adam Schwartzberg: Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Boubacar Kanté: University of California Berkeley

Nature, 2022, vol. 608, issue 7924, 692-698

Abstract: Abstract Single-aperture cavities are a key component of lasers that are instrumental for the amplification and emission of a single light mode. However, the appearance of high-order transverse modes as the size of the cavities increases has frustrated efforts to scale-up cavities while preserving single-mode operation since the invention of the laser six decades ago1–8. A suitable physical mechanism that allows single-mode lasing irrespective of the cavity size—a ‘scale invariant’ cavity or laser—has not been identified yet. Here we propose and demonstrate experimentally that open-Dirac electromagnetic cavities with linear dispersion—which in our devices are realized by a truncated photonic crystal arranged in a hexagonal pattern—exhibit unconventional scaling of losses in reciprocal space, leading to single-mode lasing that is maintained as the cavity is scaled up in size. The physical origin of this phenomenon lies in the convergence of the complex part of the free spectral range in open-Dirac cavities towards a constant governed by the loss rates of distinct Bloch bands, whereas for common cavities it converges to zero as the size grows, leading to inevitable multimode emission. An unconventional flat-envelope fundamental mode locks all unit cells in the cavity in phase, leading to single-mode lasing. We name such sources Berkeley surface-emitting lasers (BerkSELs) and demonstrate that their far-field corresponds to a topological singularity of charge two, in agreement with our theory. Open-Dirac cavities unlock avenues for light–matter interaction and cavity quantum electrodynamics.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05021-4

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