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arXiv:1212.5237 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum-Coherence-Enhanced Surface Plasmon Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Konstantin E. Dorfman, Pankaj Kumar Jha, Dmitri V. Voronine, Patrice Genevet, Federico Capasso, Marlan O. Scully

Published Jul 23, 2013• 100 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate surface plasmon amplification in a silver nanoparticle coupled to an externally driven three-level gain medium and show that quantum coherence significantly enhances the generation of surface plasmons. Surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is achieved in the absence of population inversion on the spasing transition, which reduces the pump requirements. The coherent drive allows us to control the dynamics and holds promise for quantum control of nanoplasmonic devices.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.111.043601

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We investigate surface plasmon amplification in a silver nanoparticle coupled to an externally driven three-level gain medium and show that quantum coherence significantly enhances the generation of surface plasmons. Surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is achieved in the absence of population inversion on the spasing transition, which reduces the pump requirements. The coherent drive allows us to control the dynamics and holds promise for quantum control of nanoplasmonic devices.
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We propose and demonstrate theoretically bright coherent radiation from a plasmonic nanoresonator powered by a single three-level quantum emitter. By introducing a dual-pump scheme in a Raman configuration for the three-level system, we overcome the fast decay of nanoplasmons and achieve macroscopic accumulation of nanoplasmons on the plasmonic nanoresonator for stimulated emission. We utilize the optical antenna effect for efficient radiation of the nanoplasmons and predict photon emission rates of 100 THz with up to 10 ps duration pulses and GHz repetition rates with the consideration of possible heating issue. We show that the ultrafast nature of the nanoscopic coherent source allows for operation with solid-state emitters at room temperature in the presence of fast dephasing. We provide physical interpretations of the results and discuss their realization and implications for ultracompact integration of optoelectronics.
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This article investigates a spaser geometry in which a silver nanoparticle is enclosed by \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type three-level gain media in the form of quantum dots. An intense Gaussian pump pulse induces population transfer in this \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type quantum dot gain medium. The transition energy from the gain medium is transferred to the nearby localized surface-plasmon (LSP) mode of the silver nanoparticle, resulting in a highly intense and coherent generation of LSPs. We demonstrate that an optimum value of pump-pulse width and pulse amplitude is required for an intense and coherent LSP generation. A Gaussian pump pulse can lead to Gaussian-shape temporal and spectral LSP profiles. However, as the pump pulse broadens, the Gaussian-shape LSP profile gets distorted, resulting in less intense and asymmetric temporal as well as spectral profiles. In practice, detuning typically exists between the pump frequency and the transition frequency of the quantum dot energy levels. Consequently, employing adiabatic rapid passage phenomena through a linearly chirped Gaussian pulse emerges as an effective technique for ensuring robust population transfer within the energy levels of the quantum dots. This further enhances the number of LSPs. Furthermore, the study addresses the effect of detuning noise in the output of the spaser system. Thus, a shaped pump pulse also enables manipulation of the temporal and spectral profiles of LSPs.