Fabry-Perot Cavity Modes Research Articles

Hybrid-cavity semiconductor lasers with a whispering-gallery cavity for controlling Q factor

Hybrid cavities composed of a Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity and awhispering-gallery mode (WGM) microcavity have been proposed anddemonstrated for modulating mode $Q$ factor to realize singlemode and optical bistable lasers. In this article, we report hybrid cavity lasers witha pentagon microcavity and a square microcavity, respectively. Thereflectivity spectra of different microcavities are simulated to selectmicrocavities for hybrid cavities. Mode coupling with mode $Q$ factor enhancement is investigated numerically and experimentally.Stable single mode operations with a high coupling efficiency to a singlemode fiber are realized for a hybrid cavity laser with a square microcavity.Furthermore, optical bistability hybrid lasers are investigated as themicrocavity is unbiased, due to saturable absorption in the microcavity andmode competition, respectively. All-optical flip-flop is demonstrated usingtrigger optical pulses with a width of 100 ps for mode competitionbistability. The stable single mode operation and optical bistability ofhybrid cavity lasers may shed light on the applications for photonicintegrated circuits and optical signal processing.

Fano-resonance in one-dimensional topological photonic crystal heterostructure.

We theoretically realize the Fano resonance with a high quality factor of 106 using a structure, which is constructed from three one-dimensional photonic crystals and a defect layer. The emerged Fano resonance can be attributed to the weak coupling between a Fabry-Perot cavity mode and a topological edge state mode provided by the topological photonic crystal heterostructure. Moreover, we experimentally reproduce this Fano resonance in the optical communication range with a high quality of 104. This may be useful reference for the study of applications of photonic topological states in integrated photonic devices and information processing chips.

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode-Cathode Fabry-Perot Cavity.

The application of nanophotonic structures for organic solar cells (OSCs) is quite popular and successful, and has led to increased optical absorption, better spectral overlap with solar irradiances, and improved charge collection. Significant improvements in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) have also been reported, exceeding 11%. Nonetheless, with the given material properties of OSCs with low optical absorption, narrow spectrum, short transport length of carriers, and nonuniform photocarrier generations resulting from the nanophotonic structure, the PCE of single‐junction OSCs has been stagnant over the past few years, at a barrier of 12%. Here, an ultrathin inverted OSC structure with the highest efficiency of ≈13.0%, while being made from widely used organic materials, is demonstrated. By introducing a smooth spatial corrugation to the vertical plasmonic cavity enclosing the active layer, in‐plane propagation modes and hybridized Fabry–Perot cavity modes inside the corrugated cavity are derived to achieve an ultralow Q, uniform coverage of optical absorption, in addition to uniform photocarrier generation and transport. As the first demonstration of ultra‐broadband absorption with the introduction of spatial corrugation to the ultrathin metal film electrode–cathode Fabry–Perot cavity, future applications of the same concept in other light‐harvesting devices utilizing different materials and structures are expected.

Near-Field Mapping of Optical Fabry-Perot Modes in All-Dielectric Nanoantennas.

Subwavelength optical resonators and scatterers are dramatically expanding the toolset of the optical sciences and photonics engineering. By offering the opportunity to control and shape light waves in nanoscale volumes, recent developments using high-refractive-index dielectric scatterers gave rise to efficient flat-optical components such as lenses, polarizers, phase plates, color routers, and nonlinear elements with a subwavelength thickness. In this work, we take a deeper look into the unique interaction of light with rod-shaped amorphous silicon scatterers by tapping into their resonant modes with a localized subwavelength light source-an aperture scanning near-field probe. Our experimental configuration essentially constitutes a dielectric antenna that is locally driven by the aperture probe. We show how leaky transverse electric and magnetic modes can selectively be excited and form specific near-field distribution depending on wavelength and antenna dimensions. The probe's transmittance is furthermore enhanced upon coupling to the Fabry-Perot cavity modes, revealing all-dielectric nanorods as efficient transmitter antennas for the radiation of subwavelength emitters, in addition to constituting an elementary building block for all-dielectric metasurfaces and flat optics.

An actively controlled silicon ring resonator with a fully tunable Fano resonance

We demonstrate a novel way to generate Fano resonance with tunable wavelength, extinction ratio, and slope rate. The device is a silicon add-drop microring with two integrated tunable reflectors inside, which form an embedded Fabry-Perot cavity. The fabrication is executed at a commercial CMOS foundry. Fano resonance at the drop port is generated from the interference between the Fabry-Perot cavity mode and the ring resonance mode. By tuning the reflectivities of these two reflectors with integrated heaters, various Fano resonance shapes can be achieved with a maximum extinction ratio over 40 dB and a slope rate more than 700 dB/nm.

Schottky hot-electron photodetector by cavity-enhanced optical Tamm resonance

We propose a design of Schottky-junction hot-electron photodetector under purely planar configuration, which is composed by a front distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), a metal/semiconductor (Au/Si) Schottky junction, and a metallic rear reflector. With such a hybrid design, optical Tamm resonance (i.e., a surface state) can be excited near the DBR/Au interface and significantly enhanced due to the presence of the metallic cavity. The intense Tamm resonance shows a strong field localization to the incident photon energy, enabling a high hot-electron generation for sensitive photodetection. Finite-element and rigorous coupled-wave simulations verify that both optical Tamm state and Fabry-Perot cavity mode can be excited simultaneously, which exhibit a high tunability by tailoring either the DBR or the metallic cavity. With a good angular performance, the proposed design shows an optical absorption in the top thin Au layer over 89%, leading to a 30-fold enhancement in the photoresponsivity compared to that of the normal Au/Si Schottky system.

All-optical modulator cells based on AlGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs 905-nm laser heterostructures

All-optical cells based on AlGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs laser heterostructures for a 905-nm wavelength have been developed, which operate in the regime of optical-power modulation by means of controlled generation switching between the Fabry–Perot cavity modes and high-Q closed mode. At a modulated power of 1.6 W, a mode-switching time of 1.2 ns and smaller is achieved.

Wide-Angle Near-Perfect Absorber Based on Sub-Wavelength Dielectric Grating Covered by Continuous Thin Aluminum Film

We design and numerically investigate an optical absorber consisting of the sub-wavelength dielectric grating covered by continuous thin aluminum film. In this absorber, the aluminum film act as an efficient absorbing material because of the enhanced electric field in the air nano-grooves, and the absorption spect+rum can be manipulated by Fabry-Perot cavity mode resonance. According to the spectrum manipulation mechanism, the wavelength of absorption peak can be tuned by changing the heights and widths of the air nano-grooves. More importantly, the high absorption is very robust to the incident angle around the designed wavelength. From the nanofabrication point of view, the light absorber can be fabricated more easily without the need for ion or electrochemical etching of metal and it is easy to be integrated into complex photonic devices.

High sensitivity plasmonic biosensor based on nanoimprinted quasi 3D nanosquares for cell detection

Quasi three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructures consisting of Au nanosquares on top of SU-8 nanopillars and Au nanoholes on the bottom were developed and fabricated using nanoimprint lithography with simultaneous thermal and UV exposure. These 3D plasmonic nanostructures were used to detect cell concentration of lung cancer A549 cells, retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, and breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Nanoimprint technology has the advantage of producing high uniformity plasmonic nanostructures for such biosensors. Multiple resonance modes were observed in these quasi 3D plasmonic nanostructures. The hybrid coupling of localized surface plasmon resonances and Fabry–Perot cavity modes in the quasi 3D nanostructures resulted in high sensitivity of 496 nm/refractive index unit. The plasmonic resonance peak wavelength and sensitivity could be tuned by varying the Au thickness. Resonance peak shifts for different cells at the same concentration were distinct due to their different cell area and confluency. The cell concentration detection limit covered a large range of 5 × 102 to 1 × 107 cells ml−1 with these new plasmonic nanostructures. They also provide a large resonance peak shift of 51 nm for as little as 0.08 cells mm−2 of RPE cells for high sensitivity cell detection.

Couple molecular excitons to surface plasmon polaritons in an organic-dye-doped nanostructured cavity

In this work, we demonstrate experimentally the hybrid coupling among molecular excitons, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), and Fabry-Perot (FP) mode in a nanostructured cavity, where a J-aggregates doped PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) layer is inserted between a silver grating and a thick silver film. By tuning the thickness of the doped PVA layer, the FP cavity mode efficiently couples with the molecular excitons, forming two nearly dispersion-free modes. The dispersive SPPs interact with these two modes while increasing the incident angle, leading to the formation of three hybrid polariton bands. By retrieving the mixing fractions of the polariton band components from the measured angular reflection spectra, we find all these three bands result from the strong coupling among SPPs, FP mode, and excitons. This work may inspire related studies on hybrid light-matter interactions, and achieve potential applications on multimode polariton lasers and optical spectroscopy.

Narrow-band amplified photoluminescence of amorphous silicon quantum dots via the coupling between localized surface plasmon and Fabry-Pérot cavity modes

We experimentally investigate the multifold intensity enhancement and spectral narrowing of photoluminescence (PL) from amorphous silicon quantum dots (a-Si QDs) embedded in a silicon-rich SiOx film of the Ag/SiOx:a-Si QDs/Au plasmonic nanocavity, through the resonance coupling between the localized surface plasmon (LSP) mode and the Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity mode, by tuning a one-dimensional (1-D) Ag grating on the top. The LSP resonance can be precisely tuned by adjusting the Ag line widths of the 1-D Ag grating. It is found that the LSP mode strongly couples with the FP cavity mode, resulting in a narrower emission line width and a larger PL enhancement. An optimized Ag grating structure is found to exhibit a narrow emission line width of 15 nm and 2.77-fold enhancement in the PL peak intensity, as compared to an SiOx:a-Si QDs/Au structure without 1-D Ag grating, due to the strong resonance coupling between the two modes.

Detuned Grating Single-Mode Laser With High Immunity to External Optical Feedback

In this paper, we report a novel single-mode laser with high immunity to external optical feedback following the principle of active-filter-tuned oscillator. Within the conventional Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity, a high-Q bandpass filter formed by two tilted gratings with detuned Bragg wavelengths is embedded, and the resultant mode selection mechanism can purify the lasing spectrum by eliminating all but one of the FP cavity modes near the peak wavelength of the said filter. The proposed laser inherently bears the distinct feature of being robust against any small disturbances to oscillation loop. Simulation results from the large-signal dynamic model show that a stable single-mode operation has been achieved with a side-mode suppression ratio of as high as 50 dB. Further, compared with conventional index-coupled distributed feedback lasers, the proposed laser exhibits a much higher immunity to external optical feedback, even at a very high feedback level of −3 dB, and its single-mode yield is also less susceptible to variations of effective facet phases caused by cleaving in semiconductor laser fabrications.

Fabry-Perot Microcavity Modes in Single GaP/GaNP Core/Shell Nanowires.

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are attracting increasing interest as nanobuilding blocks for optoelectronics and photonics. A novel material system that is highly suitable for these applications are GaNP NWs. In this article, we show that individual GaP/GaNP core/shell nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si substrates can act as Fabry-Perot (FP) microcavities. This conclusion is based on results of microphotoluminescence (μ-PL) measurements performed on individual NWs, which reveal periodic undulations of the PL intensity that follow an expected pattern of FP cavity modes. The cavity is concluded to be formed along the NW axis with the end facets acting as reflecting mirrors. The formation of the FP modes is shown to be facilitated by an increasing index contrast with the surrounding media. Spectral dependence of the group refractive index is also determined for the studied NWs. The observation of the FP microcavity modes in the GaP/GaNP core/shell NWs can be considered as a first step toward achieving lasing in this quasidirect bandgap semiconductor in the NW geometry.

Optical-cell model based on the lasing competition of mode structures with different Q-factors in high-power semiconductor lasers

A model describing the operation of a completely optical cell, based on the competition of lasing of Fabry-Perot cavity modes and the high-Q closed mode in high-power semiconductor lasers is proposed. Based on rate equations, the conditions of lasing switching between Fabry-Perot modes for ground and excited lasing levels and the closed mode are considered in the case of increasing internal optical loss under conditions of high current pump levels. The optical-cell operation conditions in the mode of a high-power laser radiation switch (reversible mode-structure switching) and in the mode of a memory cell with bistable irreversible lasing switching between mode structures with various Q-factors are considered.

Non-universal behavior of leaky surface waves in a one dimensional asymmetric plasmonic grating

We report on a non-universal behavior of leaky surface plasmon waves on asymmetric (Si/Au/analyte of different height) 1D grating through numerical modelling. The occurrence of the leaky surface wave was maximized (suppressing the Fabry–Perot cavity mode), which can be identified in a reflection spectrum through characteristic minimum. Beyond a specific analyte height (h), new sets of surface waves emerge, each bearing a unique reflection minimum. Furthermore, all of these minima depicted a red-shift before saturating at higher h values. This saturation is found to be non-universal despite the close association with their origin (being leaky surface waves). This behavior is attributed to the fundamental nature and the origin of the each set. Additionally, all of the surface wave modes co-exit at relatively higher h values.

Fundamental aspects of closed optical mode formation in Fabry–Perot semiconductor lasers based on AlGaAs/GaAs (905 nm) asymmetric heterostructures

Experimental static and dynamic electro-optical characteristics of 905 nm high power mesa-stripe semiconductor laser diodes based on an AlGaAs/GaAs asymmetric heterostructure operating under Fabry–Perot cavity mode quenching have been investigated. We have shown that Fabry–Perot cavity mode reversible turn-off is due to the fulfillment of a high-Q closed mode threshold condition. The mode is propagating along both gain and passive areas of the laser diode and characterized by nearly zero output optical losses. We have demonstrated that fundamental reasons of closed mode threshold condition fulfillment are (i) gain spectra shift in the long wavelength region due to band gap shrinkage and thermal heating effects and (ii) the band gap absorption decrease in the passive area. It has been shown that the process of closed mode turn-on consists of two stages. In the first stage, Fabry–Perot cavity modes and closed modes are lasing simultaneously under high residual band gap absorption in the passive area. In the second stage, closed mode optical losses become lower than Fabry–Perot cavity mode optical losses due to a positive feedback between the residual absorption and closed mode photon stimulated generation rate. This results in an accumulation of photogenerated carriers in the quantum well active region of the laser diode passive area. As a result, the threshold concentration in the gain area decreases providing lasing emission switching from the Fabry–Perot cavity mode to the closed mode.

Near-field observation of light propagation in nanocoax waveguides.

We report the observation of propagating modes of visible and near infrared light in nanoscale coaxial (metal-dielectric-metal) structures, using near-field scanning optical microscopy. Together with numerical calculations, we show that the propagated modes have different nature depending on the excitation wavelength, i.e., plasmonic TE11 and TE21 modes in the near infrared and photonic TE31, TE41 and TM11 modes in the visible. Far field transmission out of the nanocoaxes is dominated by the superposition of Fabry-Perot cavity modes resonating in the structures, consistent with theory. Such coaxial optical waveguides may be useful for future nanoscale photonic systems.

Amplified spontaneous emission via the coupling between Fabry-Perot cavity and surface plasmon polariton modes.

We demonstrated amplified spontaneous emission by embedding dye molecules within a dielectric layer of a metal-dielectric-metal subwavelength structure. It was reinforced when a strong coupling occurred between the Fabry-Perot mode supported by the dielectric layer and the surface plasmon polariton mode supported by the adjacent metallic grating. Here, we adjust the two mode interaction via tuning the depth of the metallic grating grooves. The stronger the interaction, the smaller the full width at half-maximum of the emission spectra and the lower the threshold of the amplified spontaneous emission.

Polarization-insensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor by cross-slit metallic periodic arrays

We propose a plasmonic structure to obtain polarization-insensitive localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor, which consists of cross-slit metallic periodic arrays embedded in the background material. Numerical simulation illustrates that the mechanism of the LSPR sensor is based on the shift of the Fabry–Perot cavity mode resonance peak in the spectrum as the change of the dielectric material properties for the near fields. And one of the transmission dips of the structure is very sensitive to the background materials; the structure could gain the sensitivity (nm/RIU) more than 500nm/RIU. Meanwhile, the structure holds great potential to achieve high-performance sensors in practical application due to polarization-insensitive virtue.

Controllable Mode Hybridization and Interaction Within a Plasmonic Cavity Formed by Two Bimetallic Gratings

We theoretically study mode hybridization and interaction among surface plasmon polariton Bloch wave mode, Fabry–Perot cavity mode, and waveguide mode within a plasmonic cavity composed by two parallel planar bimetallic gratings. Four hybridized modes result from mode hybridization between surface plasmon polariton Bloch wave modes on the two gratings are observed. By changing the dielectric environment, mode hybridization behavior can be manipulated. Importantly, waveguide-plasmon polariton mode due to hybridization between grating supported surface plasmon polariton Bloch wave mode and cavity supported waveguide mode is observed. We demonstrate that surface plasmon polariton Bloch wave mode and Fabry–Perot cavity mode with the same mode symmetry can interact by presenting an anticrossing behavior, which can be controlled by laterally shifting one grating with respect to the other that causes a phase difference shift of the two involving modes. The proposed plasmonic cavity offers potentials for subwavelength lithography, tunable plasmonic filter, and controllable light-matter interaction.