2016/10/12 by Wenqi Zhu, Ting Xu, Zhu, Wenqi +5
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Optics (physics.optics) #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Photonic and Optical Devices #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1610.03864
openalex publication_date 2016/10/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Recent years have witnessed growing interest in the development of small-footprint lasers for potential applications in small-volume sensing and on-chip optical communications. Surface-plasmons, electromagnetic modes evanescently confined to metal-dielectric interfaces, offer an effective route to achieving lasing at nanometer-scale dimensions when resonantly amplified in contact with a gain-medium. Here, we achieve visible frequency ultra-narrow linewidth lasing at room-temperature by leveraging surface plasmons propagating in an open Fabry-Perot cavity formed by a flat metal surface coated with a subwavelength-thick layer of optically-pumped gain medium and orthogonally bound by a pair of flat metal sidewalls. Low perturbation transmission-configuration sampling of the lasing plasmon mode is achieved via an evanescently coupled recessed nanoslit, opening the way to high-figure-of-merit refractive-index sensing of analytes interacting with the open cavity.