Surface-Emitting Metal Nanocavity Lasers

Martin T Hill,Milan J H Marell

doi:10.1155/2011/314952

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in metallic nanolasers recently and some forms of these devices constructed from semiconductor pillars can be considered as surface-emitting lasers. We compare two different realized versions of these nanopillar devices, one with a trapped cutoff mode in the pillar, another with a mode that propagates along the pillar. For the cutoff mode devices we introduce a method to improve the output beam characteristics and look at some of the challenges in improving such devices.

Highlights

Since the invention of the first laser by Maiman [1] in 1960, different lines of development have yielded lasers the size of buildings, or as small as a few tens of nanometers
The VCSEL was the first laser with dimensions which approached the wavelength scale
One possibility that exists for the cutoff mode cavities is the inclusion of some form of waveguide horn antenna [23] structure in the lower part of the pillar, Figure 4(a)

Summary

Introduction

Since the invention of the first laser by Maiman [1] in 1960, different lines of development have yielded lasers the size of buildings, or as small as a few tens of nanometers. The invention of the semiconductor laser [2] has allowed small, electrically driven lower power coherent light sources. Some of the initial devices are given roughly in chronological order in [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] Some of these devices involve plasmonic waveguide modes [5, 7]. Others involve the encapsulation of small pillars of semiconductor material [4, 10, 12] In these particular devices, light escapes from one end of the pillar. Light escapes from one end of the pillar Such devices can be considered as surface-emitting lasers. In this article we will look at a number of aspects of such devices

Pillar-Based Metal Nanolasers

Efficiency and Output Beam Quality

Technological Challenges

Conclusion