Quantum theory of the plasmonic nanolaser

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive quantum model for plasmonic nanolasers, revealing their thresholdless operation and analyzing their quantum statistics, spectrum, and coherence properties, with validation against numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a fully quantum theoretical framework for plasmonic nanolasers, applicable to high-Q microlasers and thresholdless plasmonic devices, advancing understanding of their quantum behavior.

Findings

Plasmonic nanolasers are essentially thresholdless.

The quantum statistics and coherence properties are characterized.

Model predictions agree with numerical simulations.

Abstract

In this work, we present a fully quantum theory of the plasmonic nanolaser, based on the maser model. Theory can be applied both to the microlasers with high Q-factor cavities and plasmonic nanolasers. We show that the latter is essentially a thresholdless device. We obtain the statistics of quanta, spectrum of the plasmonic radiation and the second-order coherence degree in the steady state. The limits of the model applicability are discussed in detail. All results are compared with the full numerical simulation.