Ultralow-threshold, continuous-wave upconverting lasing from subwavelength plasmons
Miniaturized lasers are an emerging platform for generating coherent light for quantum photonics, in vivo cellular imaging, solid-state lighting and fast three-dimensional sensing in smartphones 1 – 3 . Continuous-wave lasing at room temperature is critical for integration with opto-electronic devic...
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Published in | Nature materials Vol. 18; no. 11; pp. 1172 - 1176 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
01.11.2019
Nature Publishing Group Springer Nature - Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Miniaturized lasers are an emerging platform for generating coherent light for quantum photonics, in vivo cellular imaging, solid-state lighting and fast three-dimensional sensing in smartphones
1
–
3
. Continuous-wave lasing at room temperature is critical for integration with opto-electronic devices and optimal modulation of optical interactions
4
,
5
. Plasmonic nanocavities integrated with gain can generate coherent light at subwavelength scales
6
–
9
, beyond the diffraction limit that constrains mode volumes in dielectric cavities such as semiconducting nanowires
10
,
11
. However, insufficient gain with respect to losses and thermal instabilities in nanocavities has limited all nanoscale lasers to pulsed pump sources and/or low-temperature operation
6
–
9
,
12
–
15
. Here, we show continuous-wave upconverting lasing at room temperature with record-low thresholds and high photostability from subwavelength plasmons. We achieve selective, single-mode lasing from Yb
3+
/Er
3+
-co-doped upconverting nanoparticles conformally coated on Ag nanopillar arrays that support a single, sharp lattice plasmon cavity mode and greater than wavelength
λ
/20 field confinement in the vertical dimension. The intense electromagnetic near-fields localized in the vicinity of the nanopillars result in a threshold of 70 W cm
−2
, orders of magnitude lower than other small lasers. Our plasmon-nanoarray upconverting lasers provide directional, ultra-stable output at visible frequencies under near-infrared pumping, even after six hours of constant operation, which offers prospects in previously unrealizable applications of coherent nanoscale light.
Plasmonic array nanolasers with Yb
3+
/Er
3+
-co-doped upconverting nanoparticles exhibit directional single-mode emission, with ultra-stable output over hours and with ultralow-threshold under continuous-wave pumping. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 AC02-05CH11231 USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) |
ISSN: | 1476-1122 1476-4660 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41563-019-0482-5 |