Stimulated Emission of Surface Plasmon Polaritons in a Microcylinder Cavity

J. K. Kitur, V. A. Podolskiy, M. A. Noginov
2011 Physical Review Letters  
We have observed stimulated emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in dye-doped polymeric microcylinder cavities deposited onto gold and silver wires. The stimulated emission spectra featured characteristic series of laser modes, with modal spacing corresponding to SPPs propagating at the interface between metal and dielectric. Plasmonic micro-laser adds to the toolbox of plasmonic devices and plasmonic metamaterials and enables on-chip plasmonic generation and loss compensation. Most
more » ... amaterials -engineered media with rationally designed geometry, composition, and arrangement of nanostructured inclusions -rely on surface plasmons (SPs) to enable subdiffraction focusing, sub-wavelength resolution imaging, and invisibility cloaking [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] . SPs are also widely used in photonic and electronic devices that include waveguides, couplers, splitters, add/drop filters [11] [12] [13] , light sources [14] [15] [16] , and sensors [11] . Unfortunately, most applications of SPs at optical frequencies are severely limited by absorption losses. Incorporation of optical gain into adjacent dielectric [17] [18] [19] [20] can compensate absorption in metal and, thus, enable long-
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.183903 pmid:21635088 fatcat:l4tfihantvehtbhql4pffratqi