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Journal of Modern Optics

Effect of gain lineshape on amplification of localized modes in active random media

Hong Wang, Jinsong Liu, Xiao Yuan

Published Jun 15, 2005• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The model based on the method of finite-difference time-domain is applied to calculate the general feature of localized modes in active random media. The evolution of the localized modes from passive random media to active ones is investigated. By varying the gain lineshape for an active random medium, we have observed a selective excitation of localized modes, including both single-mode and multi-mode excitations. When the eigenfrequencies for some localized modes are near the centre of the gain spectrum, the optical gain offers coherent amplification to them so that they can obtain more amplification and have stronger field amplitude than other modes. The pumping level dependence of the field amplitude of the localized modes exhibits a threshold behaviour.

DOI
10.1080/09500340512331334103

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The model based on the method of finite-difference time-domain is applied to calculate the general feature of localized modes in active random media. The evolution of the localized modes from passive random media to active ones is investigated. By varying the gain lineshape for an active random medium, we have observed a selective excitation of localized modes, including both single-mode and multi-mode excitations. When the eigenfrequencies for some localized modes are near the centre of the gain spectrum, the optical gain offers coherent amplification to them so that they can obtain more amplification and have stronger field amplitude than other modes. The pumping level dependence of the field amplitude of the localized modes exhibits a threshold behaviour.
Laser action in the regime of Anderson localization is investigated by coupling Maxwell's equations in a strongly scattering medium with the rate equations of a four-level atomic system. We find that the localized modes of the passive medium are not modified by the presence of gain and serve as resonant microcavities of the random laser. The spectrum of laser emission is shown to depend on the location of the external pump. These results are similar to the recent experimental observations in semiconductor powder [Cao et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2278 (1999)]. We show that local pumping of the system allows selective excitation of individual localized modes.
We present a detailed calculation to analyse the threshold properties of individual localized modes in two-dimensional random media. Some long- and short-life localized modes are selected and indicated from the spectral intensity of a passive system. By pumping the system, the pumping rate dependence of the peak intensity of the indicated modes is obtained. Results identify that these modes have a typical threshold gain behaviour, and the pumping thresholds of long-life modes are lower than those of short-life modes. By calculating the energy decay rate, the lifetime is obtained for each mode, and the results show that there exists a certain correspondence between the mode threshold and lifetime and that, the longer the lifetime, the lower the threshold is.
Based on the time dependent theory of random lasers, which was built via combining Maxwell equations with the rate equations of a four-level atomic system, the output intensity of a lasing mode varying with the pumping rate is simulated for a two-dimensional random active medium by use of the finite difference time domain method. Results show that the pumping rate dependence of the output intensity presents not only a threshold property, but also a saturation property, just like that of lasing modes in conventional lasers. Charactering the mode's localization extent via the mode's area indicates that the stronger the mode's localization extent is, the lower the mode's threshold is. However, such a relation is not a one-to-one correspondence, meaning that the mode's localization extent is an important fact to determine the mode's threshold, but is not alone.
We investigated several types of random lasing modes against frequency and the excitation of active medium. Random lasing occurring from multiple light scatterings and the interference effect of the scattered light has various complex lasing states in disordered structures, in which light waves are localized in various forms. Modes of random lasing are generally classified into localized, extended and transition modes based on their localization types. Numerical methods are used for analysing such complex phenomena. In this paper, a finite-element method is used to investigate the relationship among lasing modes, frequency and population inversion density of active medium for random lasing. Light amplification defined as the ratio of radiative powers between excited and non-excited states of the active medium is computed by changing both the frequency and the population inversion density of the active medium, which is modelled by the negative imaginary part of relative permittivity. The distributions of random lasing modes is strongly influenced by the lasing frequency. We also found that the localized modes that are strongly confined lasing modes in disordered structures do not appear in the frequency ranges in which mean free paths are approximately equal to the half-wavelength.
The study of optical effects in active media is rich with unexpected consequences. For instance, one may imagine that absorption and amplification in a dielectric medium will exhibit some sort of symmetry because both are related to the same imaginary part of the dielectric constant, except for a sign change. It turns out that such a symmetry does not exist [1]. This issue has also been investigated in detail for random or disordered gain media, with varying viewpoints [2]. Traditionally, much of the research on amplifying media has considered the interaction of light within the entire volume of such a medium. Recent interest in metamaterials and other esoteric structures in which plasmons are used to manipulate optical signals has brought attention to the role of surface waves in active dielectrics [3, 4]. From a fundamental perspective, the main difference between active and passive media is that spontaneous emission cannot be avoided in gain media. As a result, a rigorous analysis of gain media demands a quantum-mechanical treatment. Spontaneous emission in a gain medium depends not only on the material properties of that medium but also on the optical modes supported by the structure containing that material [5]. By a clever design of this structure (e.g., photonic crystals or microdisk resonators with a metallic cladding), it is possible to control the local density of optical modes and the spontaneous emission process itself. In Chapter 4, we discuss how to model a gain medium under such conditions by deploying optical Bloch equations.
We study local and nonlocal correlations of light transmitted through active random media. The conventional approach results in divergence of ensemble-averaged correlation functions due to the existence of lasing realizations. We introduce a conditional average for correlation functions by omitting the divergent realizations. Our numerical simulation reveals that amplification does not affect local spatial correlation. The nonlocal intensity correlations are strongly magnified due to selective enhancement of the contributions from long propagation paths. We also show that by increasing gain, the average mode linewidth can be made comparable to the average mode spacing. This implies that light transport through a diffusive random system with gain may exhibit some similarities with that through a localized passive system.