Identification of the stimulated-emission threshold in high-{beta} nanoscale lasers through phase-space reconstruction

Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.83.053836· OSTI ID:21546885

Hachair, X; Elvira, D; Le Gratiet, L; Lemaitre, A; Abram, I; Sagnes, I; Robert-Philip, I; Beveratos, A ^[1]; Braive, R ^[1]; Lippi, G L ^[2]

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1. Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, CNRS-UPR20, Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis (France)
2. Institut Non Lineaire de Nice, Universite de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 1361 Route des Lucioles, F-06560 Valbonne (France)

Nanoscale lasers sustain a few optical modes so that the fraction of spontaneous emission {beta} funnelled into the useful (lasing) mode is high (of the order of 10{sup -1}) and the threshold, which traditionally corresponds to an abrupt kink in the light-in-light-out curve, becomes ill defined. We propose an alternative definition of the threshold that is based on the dynamical response of the laser and is valid even for {beta}=1 lasers. The laser dynamics is analyzed through a reconstruction of its phase-space trajectory for pulsed excitations. Crossing the threshold, brings about a change in the shape of the trajectory and in the area contained in it. An unambiguous determination of the threshold in terms of this change is shown theoretically and illustrated experimentally in a photonic-crystal laser.

• OSTI ID: 21546885
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.053836; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
CRYSTALS
EXCITATION
LASERS
NANOSTRUCTURES
OPTICAL MODES
PHASE SPACE
STIMULATED EMISSION
VISIBLE RADIATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EMISSION
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
OSCILLATION MODES
RADIATIONS
SPACE