Letter abstract
Nature Photonics 2, 351 - 354 (2008)
Published online: 25 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.82
Subject Categories: Plasmonics | Novel materials and engineered structures | Nanophotonics
Lasing spaser
N. I. Zheludev1, S. L. Prosvirnin2, N. Papasimakis1 & V. A. Fedotov1
Abstract
In 2003 Bergman and Stockman introduced the spaser, a quantum amplifier of surface plasmons by stimulated emission of radiation1. They argued that by exploiting a metal/dielectric composite medium it should be possible to construct a nanodevice, where a strong coherent field is built up in a spatial region much smaller than the wavelength1, 2. V-shaped metallic structures, combined with semiconductor quantum dots, were discussed as a possible realization of the spaser1. Here we introduce a further development of the spaser concept. We show that by combining the metamaterial and spaser ideas one can create a narrow-diversion coherent source of electromagnetic radiation that is fuelled by plasmonic oscillations. We argue that a two-dimensional array of a certain class of plasmonic resonators supporting coherent current excitations with high quality factor can act as a planar source of spatially and temporally coherent radiation, which we term a 'lasing spaser.'
- Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
- Institute of Radio Astronomy, National Academy of Sciences, Kharkov 61002, Ukraine
Correspondence to: N. I. Zheludev1 e-mail: niz@orc.soton.ac.uk
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