Record Performance of Electrical Injection Sub-wavelength Metallic-Cavity Semiconductor Lasers at Room Temperature

TL;DR

This paper reports the first successful demonstration of room temperature continuous wave operation of electrically injected metallic nanolasers with sub-wavelength cavities, achieving record quality factors and linewidths.

Contribution

It overcomes fabrication challenges to realize the first room temperature, electrically injected, sub-wavelength metallic nanolaser with record Q-value and linewidth.

Findings

Achieved room temperature CW operation of metallic nanolasers.

Recorded the highest Q-value for sub-wavelength lasers at RT.

Demonstrated the feasibility of practical nanophotonic devices based on metal-semiconductor structures.

Abstract

Metallic-Cavity lasers or plasmonic nanolasers of sub-wavelength sizes have attracted great attentions in recent years, with the ultimate goal of achieving continuous wave (CW), room temperature (RT) operation under electrical injection. Despite great efforts, a conclusive and convincing demonstration of this goal has proven challenging. By overcoming several fabrication challenges imposed by the stringent requirement of such small scale devices, we were finally able to achieve this ultimate goal. Our metallic nanolaser with a cavity volume of 0.67{\lambda}3 ({\lambda}=1591 nm) shows a linewidth of 0.5 nm at RT, which corresponds to a Q-value of 3182 compared to 235 of the cavity Q, the highest Q under lasing condition for RT CW operation of any sub-wavelength laser. Such record performance provides convincing evidences of the feasibility of RT CW metallic nanolasers, thus opening a wide range of practical possibilities of novel nanophotonic devices based on metal-semiconductor structures.