Low-threshold lasing under pulsed optical pumping is demonstrated at room temperature for III-nitride microdisks with InGaN/GaN quantum wells on Si in the blue spectral range. Thresholds in the range of 18 kW/cm2 have been achieved along with narrow linewidths of 0.07 nm and a large peak to background dynamic of 300. We compare this threshold range with the one that can be calculated using a rate equation model. We show that thresholds in the few kW/cm2 range constitute the best that can be achieved with III-nitride quantum wells at room temperature. The sensitivity of lasing on the fabrication process is also discussed.
Ultraviolet microdisk lasers are integrated monolithically into photonic circuits using a III-nitride on silicon platform with gallium nitride (GaN) as the main waveguiding layer. The photonic circuits consist of a microdisk and a pulley waveguide terminated by out-coupling gratings. We measure quality factors up to 3500 under continuous-wave excitation. Lasing is observed from 374 nm to 399 nm under pulsed excitation, achieving low threshold energies of $0.14 ~text{mJ/cm}^2$ per pulse (threshold peak powers of $35 ~text{kW/cm}^2$). A large peak to background dynamic of around 200 is observed at the out-coupling grating for small gaps of 50 nm between the disk and waveguide. These devices operate at the limit of what can be achieved with GaN in terms of operation wavelength.
On-chip microlaser sources in the blue constitute an important building block for complex integrated photonic circuits on silicon. We have developed photonic circuits operating in the blue spectral range based on microdisks and bus waveguides in III-nitride on silicon. We report on the interplay between microdisk-waveguide coupling and its optical properties. We observe critical coupling and phase matching, i.e. the most efficient energy transfer scheme, for very short gap sizes and thin waveguides (g = 45 nm and w = 170 nm) in the spontaneous emission regime. Whispering gallery mode lasing is demonstrated for a wide range of parameters with a strong dependence of the threshold on the loaded quality factor. We show the dependence and high sensitivity of the output signal on the coupling. Lastly, we observe the impact of processing on the tuning of mode resonances due to the very short coupling distances. Such small footprint on-chip integrated microlasers providing maximum energy transfer into a photonic circuit have important potential applications for visible-light communication and lab-on-chip bio-sensors.
Bound states in the continuum (BICs) have attracted much attention in recent years due to the infinite quality factor (Q-factor) resonance and extremely localized field. In this study, BICs have been demonstrated by dielectric metasurfaces with hybrid surface lattice resonance (SLR) in the experiment. By breaking the symmetry of geometry, SLR can be easily switched between BICs and quasi-BICs. Comparing with literature, switching between BICs and quasi-BICs is usually accompanied by wavelength shift. Here, a design rule is proposed to prevent the wavelength shift when the Q-factor is changing. Also, such a design also makes subsequent identification of the laser threshold more credible. Due to the high Q-factor, low threshold laser is one of the intuitive applications of BICs. Utilize the high localized ability of BICs, low threshold BICs laser can be achieved by the dielectric metasurface immersed with Rhodamine 6G. Interestingly, due to the high Q-factor resonance of BICs, the laser signals and images can be observed in almost transparent samples. Not only the BICs laser is demonstrated in the experiment, but also the mechanism of BICs is deeply analyzed. This study can help readers better understand this novel feature of BICs, and provide the way for engineer BICs metasurfaces. The device can provide various applications, including laser, optical sensing, non-linear optics enhancement, and single-photon source.
Solid state battery technology is motivated by the desire to deliver flexible power storage in a safe and efficient manner. The increasingly widespread use of batteries from mass-production facilities highlights the need for a rapid and sensitive diagnostic for identifying battery defects. We demonstrate the use of atomic magnetometry to measure the magnetic fields around miniature solid-state battery cells. These fields encode information about battery manufacturing defects, state of charge, impurities, or can provide important insights into ageing processes. Compared with SQUID-based magnetometry, the availability of atomic magnetometers, however, highlights the possibility for a low-cost, portable, and flexible implementation of battery quality-control and characterization technology.
We report single-mode lasing in subwavelength GaAs disks under optical pumping. The disks are fabricated by standard photolithography and two steps of wet chemical etching. The simple fabrication method can produce submicron disks with good circularity, smooth boundary and vertical sidewalls. The smallest lasing disks have a diameter of 627 nm and thickness of 265 nm. The ratio of the disk diameter to the vacuum lasing wavelength is about 0.7. Our numerical simulations confirm that the lasing modes are whispering-gallery modes with the azimuthal number as small as 4 and very small mode volume.