Subwavelength Nanopatch Cavities for Semiconductor Plasmon Lasers

• Published in: IEEE journal of quantum electronics Vol. 44; no. 5; pp. 435 - 447
• Main Authors: Manolatou, C., Rana, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.05.2008; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Confinement; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Gain; Holes; Integrated optoelectronics; Laser beams; Laser modes; Lasers; Masers; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; nanotechnology; Optical pumping; Optical surface waves; Optics; Physics; Plasmons; Pump lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor lasers; laser diodes; Semiconductors; Surface and interface electron states; Surface emitting lasers; Surface waves; Optical confinement; Semiconductor lasers; Integrated optoelectronics; Microwave radiation; Subwavelength; plasmons; Surface plasmons; Beam shaping; Nanotechnology
• ISSN: 0018-9197; 1558-1713
• DOI: 10.1109/JQE.2008.916707

We propose and analyze a family of nanoscale cavities for electrically pumped surface-emitting semiconductor lasers that use surface plasmons to provide optical mode confinement in cavities which have dimensions in the 100-300-nm range. The proposed laser cavities are in many ways nanoscale optical versions of micropatch antennas that are commonly used at microwave/RF frequencies. Surface plasmons are not only used for mode confinement but also for output beam shaping to realize single-lobe far-field radiation patterns with narrow beam waists from subwavelength size cavities. We identify the cavity modes with the largest quality factors and modal gain, and show that in the near-IR wavelength range (1.0-1.6 mu m) cavity losses (including surface plasmon losses) can be compensated by the strong mode confinement in the gain region provided by the surface plasmons themselves and the required material threshold gain values can be smaller than 700 cm -1 .