Room temperature electrically pumped topological insulator lasers

TL;DR

This paper reports the first room temperature, electrically pumped topological insulator laser that operates at telecom wavelengths, demonstrating single frequency emission and robustness due to topological properties.

Contribution

It introduces the first room temperature, electrically pumped topological insulator laser, expanding topological photonics into practical, ambient-condition applications.

Findings

Operates at room temperature and telecom wavelengths

Achieves single frequency emission

Demonstrates robustness of topological modes

Abstract

Topological insulator lasers (TILs) are a recently introduced family of lasing arrays in which phase locking is achieved through synthetic gauge fields. These single frequency light source arrays operate in the spatially extended edge modes of topologically non-trivial optical lattices. Because of the inherent robustness of topological modes against perturbations and defects, such topological insulator lasers tend to demonstrate higher slope efficiencies as compared to their topologically trivial counterparts. So far, magnetic and non-magnetic optically pumped topological laser arrays as well as electrically pumped TILs that are operating at cryogenic temperatures have been demonstrated. Here we present the first room temperature and electrically pumped topological insulator laser. This laser array, using a structure that mimics the quantum spin Hall effect for photons, generates light at telecom wavelengths and exhibits single frequency emission. Our work is expected to lead to further developments in laser science and technology, while opening up new possibilities in topological photonics.