Broadband Surface Plasmon Lasing in One-dimensional Metallic Gratings on Semiconductor

Seung-Hyun Kim,Tae-Young Jeong,Won Seok Han,Ki-Ju Yee,D Lee,H Jeong,Dai-Sik Kim,Seung-Bo Shim,Hyang-Rok Lee,Kwang Jun Ahn

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-08355-6

Abstract

We report surface plasmon (SP) lasing in metal/semiconductor nanostructures, where one-dimensional periodic silver slit gratings are placed on top of an InGaAsP layer. The SP nature of the lasing is confirmed from the emission wavelength governed by the grating period, polarization analysis, spatial coherence, and comparison with the linear transmission. The excellent performance of the device as an SP source is demonstrated by its tunable emission in the 400-nm-wide telecom wavelength band at room temperature. We show that the stimulated emission enhanced by the Purcell effect enables successful SP lasing at high energies above the gap energy of the gain. We also discuss the dependence of the lasing efficiency on temperature, grating dimension, and type of metal.

Highlights

If the applied gain is larger than the loss in an surface plasmon (SP) cavity, it can lead to SPASER (SP amplification via stimulated emission of radiation) or SP lasing[8]
We report SP lasing in a hybrid metal/semiconductor nanostructure consisting of periodic silver slit arrays on top of an InGaAsP layer
We demonstrate that one-dimensional slit arrays of Ag coupled with an InGaAsP layer enables SP lasing over a broadband spectral range

Summary

Introduction

If the applied gain is larger than the loss in an SP cavity, it can lead to SPASER (SP amplification via stimulated emission of radiation) or SP lasing[8]. The lasing SPASER proposed by Zheludev et al.[12] is another type of SP source and, is accomplished by embedding a periodic array of SPRs on gain materials. In this approach, SP radiation is enabled by collectively oscillating mode currents generated in the SPRs. Recently, several groups have reported the production of lasing SPASERs, either through the use of individual nanoparticles coupled with gain media[9, 13,14,15] or based on periodic structures[16,17,18,19]. We investigate the dependence of SP lasing on the temperature, grating width, and grating material

Methods

Results

Conclusion