TY - JOUR
T1 - Elimination of Spatial Hole Burning in Microlasers for Stability and Efficiency Enhancement
AU - Zhang, Zhifeng
AU - Miao, Pei
AU - Sun, Jingbo
AU - Longhi, Stefano
AU - Litchinitser, Natalia M.
AU - Feng, Liang
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-06-09
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OSR-2016-CRG5-2950-04
Acknowledgements: We acknowledge support from the Army Research Office (Grant No. W911NF-15-1-0152) and King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (Grant No. OSR-2016-CRG5-2950-04).
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.
PY - 2018/7/20
Y1 - 2018/7/20
N2 - Optical gain and loss are considered as a pair of feuds. It is widely believed that optical loss is the most detrimental factor in laser systems that decreases the laser efficiency. The hitherto approach is to minimize or even avoid any loss in designing any laser systems. From an opposite vantage point, however, we demonstrate that harnessing additional optical losses enables an energy-efficient microlaser with a robust single-mode lasing action even in the nonlinear regime above lasing threshold. This is due to elimination of the undesired spatial hole burning effect by tailoring the complex index modulations at an exceptional point (EP), thereby spatially maximizing the interaction of optical gain material with light field in a homogeneous fashion. Approximately 2× enhancement in the laser slope efficiency is observed, enabled by elimination of spatial hole burning. This result is expected to reposition a strategic role of optical losses in laser systems, advancing fundamental laser physics and promising novel technologies in energy-efficient photonic systems.
AB - Optical gain and loss are considered as a pair of feuds. It is widely believed that optical loss is the most detrimental factor in laser systems that decreases the laser efficiency. The hitherto approach is to minimize or even avoid any loss in designing any laser systems. From an opposite vantage point, however, we demonstrate that harnessing additional optical losses enables an energy-efficient microlaser with a robust single-mode lasing action even in the nonlinear regime above lasing threshold. This is due to elimination of the undesired spatial hole burning effect by tailoring the complex index modulations at an exceptional point (EP), thereby spatially maximizing the interaction of optical gain material with light field in a homogeneous fashion. Approximately 2× enhancement in the laser slope efficiency is observed, enabled by elimination of spatial hole burning. This result is expected to reposition a strategic role of optical losses in laser systems, advancing fundamental laser physics and promising novel technologies in energy-efficient photonic systems.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/678790
UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsphotonics.8b00800
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85050606788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsphotonics.8b00800
DO - 10.1021/acsphotonics.8b00800
M3 - Article
SN - 2330-4022
VL - 5
SP - 3016
EP - 3022
JO - ACS Photonics
JF - ACS Photonics
IS - 8
ER -