SPASER as a complex system: femtosecond dynamics traced by ab-initio simulations

Juan Sebastian Totero Gongora; Andrey E. Miroshnichenko; Yuri S. Kivshar; Andrea Fratalocchi

doi:10.1117/12.2212967

14 March 2016 SPASER as a complex system: femtosecond dynamics traced by ab-initio simulations

Juan Sebastian Totero Gongora, Andrey E. Miroshnichenko, Yuri S. Kivshar, Andrea Fratalocchi

Proceedings Volume 9746, Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XX; 974618 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2212967
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2016, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Integrating coherent light sources at the nanoscale with spasers is one of the most promising applications of plasmonics. A spaser is a nano-plasmonic counterpart of a laser, with photons replaced by surface plasmon polaritons and the resonant cavity replaced by a nanoparticle supporting localized plasmonic modes. Despite the large body of experimental and theoretical studies, the understanding of the fundamental properties of the spaser emission is still challenging. In this work, we investigated the ultrafast dynamics of the emission from a core-shell spaser by developing a rigorous first-principle numerical model. Our results show that the spaser is a highly nonlinear system with many interacting degrees of freedom, whose emission sustain a rich manifold of different spatial phases. In the regime of strong interaction we observed that the spaser emission manifests an irreversible ergodic evolution, where energy is equally shared among all the available degrees of freedom. Under this condition, the spaser generates ultrafast vortex lasing modes that are spinning on the femtosecond scale, acquiring the character of a nanoparticle with an effective spin. Interestingly, the spin orientation is defined by spontaneous symmetry breaking induced by quantum noise, which is a fundamental component of our ab-initio model. This opens up interesting possibilities of achieving unidirectional emission from a perfectly spherical nanoparticle, stimulating a broad range of applications for nano-plasmonic lasers as unidirectional couplers, random information sources and novel form of photonics neural-networks.

Citation Download Citation

Juan Sebastian Totero Gongora, Andrey E. Miroshnichenko, Yuri S. Kivshar, and Andrea Fratalocchi "SPASER as a complex system: femtosecond dynamics traced by ab-initio simulations", Proc. SPIE 9746, Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XX, 974618 (14 March 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2212967

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available