Feasibility of GaAs‐based metal strip surface plasmon nano‐lasers. Issue 2 (1st April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lafone, Lucas; Sidiropoulos, Themistoklis P.H.; Hamm, Joachim M.; Oulton, Rupert F.
• Is Part Of: IET optoelectronics. Volume 8:Issue 2(2014)
• Page Start: 122
• Page End: 128
• Publication Date: 2014-04-01
• Subjects: gallium arsenide -- III‐V semiconductors -- laser beams -- laser modes -- optical fabrication -- optical losses -- ridge waveguides -- semiconductor lasers -- surface plasmons -- waveguide lasers -- nanophotonics; GaAs‐based metallic strip surface plasmon nanolasers -- IIIâ€"V semiconductor materials -- fabrication technologies -- design technologies -- ridge waveguide laser -- semiconductor slab waveguide -- mode formation -- mode characteristics -- hybrid mode -- internal coupling -- strong lateral mode confinement -- high propagation losses -- surface plasmon modes -- realistic gain model -- confinement factor -- carrier concentrations -- bound mode propagation losses -- single lateral mode operation -- high confinement‐to‐loss figure of merit -- straightforward in‐situ fabrication -- temperature 293 K to 298 K -- GaAs; Optoelectronics -- Periodicals; 621.36
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-opt.2013.0069
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-8768

Abstract

Abstract : The authors present a theoretical analysis of metallic strip surface plasmon nano‐lasers that are compatible with III–V semiconductor materials and fabrication technologies. The design mimics a ridge waveguide laser, where the ridge is a metallic strip that sits on top of a semiconductor slab waveguide. We discuss the formation and characteristics of a mode that is bound to the metallic strip and evaluate the possibility of compensating its propagation loss with the gain from the semiconductor slab. We find that the bound mode is a hybrid of the modes of the metallic strip and those of the semiconductor slab and that by varying the internal coupling, it is possible to engineer extremely strong lateral mode confinement while also mitigating the high propagation losses that are typically associated with surface plasmon modes. Using a realistic gain model for GaAs and a new analysis of the confinement factor, we find that carrier concentrations in the region of 3 × 10 18 cm −3 can compensate for the bound mode's propagation losses, in the region of 1000 cm −1, at room temperature. This design has many desirable features including single lateral mode operation, a high confinement‐to‐loss figure of merit and the potential for relatively straightforward in‐situ fabrication.