Coherent meta-materials and the lasing spaser

By Nikolay I. Zheludev, S. Prosvirnin, N. Papasimakis, V. Fedotov. 2008

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In 2003 Bergman and Stockman introduced the spaser, a quantum amplifier of surface plasmons by stimulated emission of radiation. They argued that, by exploiting a metal/dielectric composite medium, it should be possible to construct a nano-device, where a strong coherent field is built up in a spatial region much smaller than the wavelength. It was suggested that V-shaped metallic inclusions, combined with a collection of semiconductor quantum dots could lead to a realization of the spaser. Here we introduce a further development of the spaser concept. We show that by combining the metamaterial and spaser ideas one can create a planar narrow-diversion coherent source of electromagnetic radiation that is fuelled by plasmonic oscillations. We argue that two-dimensional arrays of a certain class of plasmonic resonators supporting high-Q current excitations belong to a new category of coherent metamaterials that provide an intriguing opportunity to create a spatially and temporally coherent laser source, the Lasing Spaser.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Biomedical Engineering, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ddd4dad856e9c56d02256d4217a33951e019324d