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Dynamics of Plasmonic Stopped-Light Nanolasing and Condensation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2016

A. Freddie Page ,
Tim W. Pickering ,
Joachim M. Hamm ,
Sebastian M. Wuestner  and
Ortwin Hess
A. Freddie Page
Affiliation:
Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
Tim W. Pickering
Affiliation:
Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
Joachim M. Hamm
Affiliation:
Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
Sebastian M. Wuestner
Affiliation:
Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
Ortwin Hess*
Affiliation:
Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
*
*(Email: o.hess@imperial.ac.uk)
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Abstract

By reducing the number of dimensions that light can propagate in from three down to two, one may gain control over the characteristics of propagation. This control can allow for “Stopped Light” (SL), where wavepackets of light are slowed down to a zero group velocity. This is achieved by designing planar metal-dielectric structures that are stacked in one dimension allowing for waveguide modes in the other two, and engineering the dispersion relation of these structures. Stopped light structures can be further optimized to reduce their dispersion and increase the number of spatial frequencies supported, which allows for confinement of electromagnetic energy over volumes smaller than the diffraction limit over fixed regions in space. If this electromagnetic energy is confined over a region that provides gain, the question arises, can amplification of this light energy occur? and indeed can a regime of lasing be entered into? We show that stopped light lasing is indeed possible, despite there being no resonant cavity in 2d to confine the light, and explore the properties of this new type of laser.

Keywords

laseroptical propertiessimulation
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Advances , Volume 1 , Issue 23: Electronics and Photonics , 2016 , pp. 1671 - 1676
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2016 

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References

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