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Room-Temp Nanolaser Built

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A highly efficient, room-temperature nanometer-scale laser has been built that produces stable, continuous streams of near-infrared laser light. The design should prove useful in future miniaturized circuits containing optical devices.

The overall device has a width of several microns (millionths of a meter), while the part that actually produces laser light has dimensions at the nanometer scale in all directions. The laser uses only a microwatt of power, one of the smallest operating powers ever achieved.

The researchers, from Yokohama National University in Japan, present their nanolaser in the latest issue of Optics Express, an open-access journal published by the Optical Society of America.Nanolaser.jpg
A new nanolaser produces stable, continuous near-infrared light at room temperature with great efficiency with the help of a honeycomb-like pattern known as a photonic crystal. (Image courtesy Yokohama National University, Japan)
The laser is made of a semiconductor material known as gallium indium arsenide phosphate (GaInAsP). The laser's small size and efficiency were made possible by employing a design, first demonstrated at the California Institute of Technology in 1999, known as a photonic-crystal laser.

In this design, researchers drill a repeating pattern of holes through the laser material. This pattern is called a photonic crystal. The researchers deliberately introduced an irregularity, or defect, into the crystal pattern, for example by slightly shifting the positions of two holes. Together, the photonic crystal pattern and the defect prevent light waves of most colors (frequencies) from existing in the structure, with the exception of a small band of frequencies that can exist in the region near the defect.

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By operating at room temperature and in a mode where laser light is emitted continuously, the new nanolaser distinguishes itself from previous designs. For a laser device that depends on the delicate effects of quantum mechanics, the random noise associated with even a moderately warm environment usually overwhelms the process of producing laser light. Yet this laser operates at room temperature. It also produces a continuous output of light, rather than a series of pulses. This desirable continuous operation is more difficult to achieve because it requires careful management of the device's power consumption and heat dissipation, its creators reported.

According to Yokohama researcher Toshihiko Baba, the new nanolaser can be operated in two modes depending what kind of "Q" value is chosen. Q refers to quality factor, the ability for an oscillating system to continue before running out of energy. A common example of an oscillating system would be a tuning fork. The higher its Q value, the longer it will ring after being struck. Lasers are oscillating systems because they produce light waves that repeatedly bounce back and forth inside the device to build up a beam.

Nanolasers operated in a high-Q mode (20,000) will be useful for optical devices in tiny chips (optical integrated circuits). In a moderate-Q (1500) configuration the nanolaser needs only an extremely small amount of external power to bring the device to the threshold of producing laser light. In this near-thresholdless operation, the same technology will permit the emission of very low light levels, even single photons.

The full text of the article, "Room Temperature Continuous Wave Operation and Controlled Spontaneous Emission in Ultrasmall Photonic Crystal Nanolaser," is available at: www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=138211


Published: June 2007
Glossary
light
Electromagnetic radiation detectable by the eye, ranging in wavelength from about 400 to 750 nm. In photonic applications light can be considered to cover the nonvisible portion of the spectrum which includes the ultraviolet and the infrared.
nano
An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
near-infrared
The shortest wavelengths of the infrared region, nominally 0.75 to 3 µm.
optical
Pertaining to optics and the phenomena of light.
photon
A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of energy, each photon equals hn, h being Planck's constant and n, the frequency of the propagating electromagnetic wave. The momentum of the photon in the direction of propagation is hn/c, c being the speed of light.
photonics
The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
circuitscrystalsGaInAsPlightnanonanolasernear-infraredNews & Featuresopticaloptical integrated circuitsOptical Society of Americaphotonphotonic crystalphotonicsroom temperatureYokohama National UniversityLasers

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