Stabilizing nanolasers via polarization lifetime tuning

Aycke Roos,Stefan Meinecke,Kathy Lüdge

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97757-8

Aycke Roos, Stefan Meinecke + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97757-8

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Sep 17, 2021
Citations: 1	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Technische Universität Berlin

Abstract

We investigate the emission dynamics of mutually coupled nanolasers and predict ways to optimize their stability, i.e., maximize their locking range. We find that tuning the cavity lifetime to the same order of magnitude as the dephasing time of the microscopic polarization yields optimal operation conditions, which allow for wider tuning ranges than usually observed in conventional semiconductor lasers. The lasers are modeled by Maxwell–Bloch type class-C equations. For our analysis, we analytically determine the steady state solutions, analyze the symmetries of the system and numerically characterize the emission dynamics via the underlying bifurcation structure. The polarization lifetime is found to be a crucial parameter, which impacts the observed dynamics in the parameter space spanned by frequency detuning, coupling strength and coupling phase.

Highlights

We investigate the emission dynamics of mutually coupled nanolasers and predict ways to optimize their stability, i.e., maximize their locking range
We further show that polarization lifetimes on the order of the photon lifetime yield optimal locking behavior over wide tuning ranges
The paper is structured as follows: In “Semi-classical laser model” and “Symmetries” sections we introduce the model of two coupled class-C lasers, derive a class-B model as limit of small polarization lifetimes and discuss the symmetries of the coupled laser system

Summary

Introduction

We investigate the emission dynamics of mutually coupled nanolasers and predict ways to optimize their stability, i.e., maximize their locking range. The complex eigenvalues of the linearized Class-C equations for one solitary laser have been determined as a function of the polarization lifetime T2 for the parameters discussed throughout the manuscript. We refer to those steady states, known as symmetric s olutions[35], as constant-phase CLMs in analogy to33, where a similar model for two coupled class-B lasers is discussed.

Results

Conclusion