No Arabic abstract
We presented a detailed experimental study on lasing in GaAs microstadium with various shapes. Unlike most deformed microcavities, the lasing threshold varies non-monotonically with the major-to-minor-axis ratio of the stadium. Under spatially uniform optical pumping, the first lasing mode corresponds to a high-quality scar mode consisting of several unstable periodic orbits. By tuning the shape of GaAs stadium, we are able to minimize the lasing threshold. This work demonstrates the possibility of controlling chaotic microcavity laser.
We investigate the lasing modes in fully chaotic polymer microstadiums under optical pumping. The lasing modes are regularly spaced in frequency, and their amplitudes oscillate with frequency. Our numerical simulations reveal that the lasing modes are multi-orbit scar modes. The interference of partial waves propagating along the constituent orbits results in local maxima of quality factor at certain frequencies. The observed modulation of lasing mode amplitude with frequency results from the variation of quality factor, which provides the direct evidence of wave interference effect in open chaotic microcavities.
Metasurfaces exploit the ability to engineer the optical phase, amplitude and polarization at subwavelength dimensions providing unprecedented control of light. The realization of the all dielectric approach to metasurfaces has led to the demonstration of extensive flat optical elements and functionalities with low losses. However, to reach their ultimate potential, metasurfaces must move beyond static operation and incorporate active tunability and reconfigurable functions. The central challenge is achieving large tunability in subwavelength resonator elements which require large optical effects in response to external stimuli. Here we study the thermal tunability of high-index silicon and germanium semiconductor resonators over a large temperature range. We demonstrate thermal tuning of Mie resonances due to the normal positive thermo-optic effect (dn/dT >0) over a wide infrared range. We show that at higher temperatures and long wavelengths the sign of the thermo-optic coefficient is reversed (dn/dT<0) culminating in a negative induced index due to thermal excitation of free carriers. We also demonstrate the tuning of high order Mie resonances by several linewidths with a temperature swing of {Delta}T<100K. Finally, we exploit the larger thermo-optic coefficient at NIR wavelengths in Si metasurfaces to realize optical switching and tunable metafilters.
We present here a semiconductor injection laser operating in continuous wave with an emission covering more than one octave in frequency, and displaying homogeneous power distribution among the lasing modes. The gain medium is based on a heterogeneous quantum cascade structure operating in the THz range. Laser emission in continuous wave takes place from 1.64 THz to 3.35 THz with optical powers in the mW range and more than 80 modes above threshold. Free-running beatnote investigations on narrow waveguides with linewidths of 980 Hz limited by jitter indicate frequency comb operation on a spectral bandwidth as wide as 624 GHz, making such devices ideal candidates for octave-spanning semiconductor-laser-based THz frequency combs.
More and more applications require semiconductor lasers distinguished not only by large modulation bandwidths or high output powers, but also by small spectral linewidths. The theoretical understanding of the root causes limiting the linewidth is therefore of great practical relevance. In this paper, we derive a general expression for the calculation of the spectral linewidth step by step in a self-contained manner. We build on the linewidth theory developed in the 1980s and 1990s but look from a modern perspective, in the sense that we choose as our starting points the time-dependent coupled-wave equations for the forward and backward propagating fields and an expansion of the fields in terms of the stationary longitudinal modes of the open cavity. As a result, we obtain rather general expressions for the longitudinal excess factor of spontaneous emission ($K$-factor) and the effective $alpha$-factor including the effects of nonlinear gain (gain compression) and refractive index (Kerr effect), gain dispersion and longitudinal spatial hole burning in multi-section cavity structures. The effect of linewidth narrowing due to feedback from an external cavity often described by the so-called chirp reduction factor is also automatically included. We propose a new analytical formula for the dependence of the spontaneous emission on the carrier density avoiding the use of the population inversion factor. The presented theoretical framework is applied to a numerical study of a two-section distributed Bragg reflector laser.
The aim of this paper is to review some of the models and solution techniques used in the simulation of high-power semiconductor lasers and to address open questions. We discuss some of the peculiarities in the description of the optical field of wide-aperture lasers. As an example, the role of the substrate as a competing waveguide in GaAs-based lasers is studied. The governing equations for the investigation of modal instabilities and filamentation effects are presented and the impact of the thermal-lensing effect on the spatiotemporal behavior of the optical field is demonstrated. We reveal the factors that limit the output power at very high injecton currents based on a numerical solution of the thermodynamic based drift-diffusion equations and elucidate the role of longitudinal spatial holeburning.