Room-temperature laser emission of ZnO nanowires explained by many-body theory

Topological photonic crystal nanowire array laser with edge states

A topological photonic crystal InGaAsP/InP core-shell nanowire array laser operating in the 1550 nm wavelength band is proposed and simulated. The structure is composed of an inner topological nontrivial photonic crystal and outer topological trivial photonic crystal. For a nanowire with height of 8 µm, high quality factor of 4.7 × 104 and side-mode suppression ratio of 11 dB are obtained, approximately 32.9 and 5.5 times that of the uniform photonic crystal nanowire array, respectively. Under optical pumping, the topological nanowire array laser exhibits a threshold 27.3% lower than that of the uniform nanowire array laser, due to the smaller nanowire slit width and stronger optical confinement. Moreover, the topological NW laser exhibits high tolerence to manufacturing errors. This work may pave the way for the development of low-threshold single-mode high-robustness nanolasers.

Tuning nanowire lasers via hybridization with two-dimensional materials

Mixed-dimensional hybrid structures have recently gained increasing attention as promising building blocks for novel electronic and optoelectronic devices. In this context, hybridization of semiconductor nanowires with two-dimensional materials could offer new ways to control and modulate lasing at the nanoscale. In this work, we deterministically fabricate hybrid mixed-dimensional heterostructures composed of ZnO nanowires and MoS₂ monolayers with micrometer control over their relative position. First, we show that our deterministic fabrication method does not degrade the optical properties of the ZnO nanowires. Second, we demonstrate that the lasing wavelength of ZnO nanowires can be tuned by several nanometers by hybridization with CVD-grown MoS₂ monolayers. We assign this spectral shift of the lasing modes to an efficient carrier transfer at the heterointerface and the subsequent increase of the optical band gap in ZnO (Moss-Burstein effect).

Enhanced Reflection of GaAs Nanowire Laser Using Short-Period, Symmetric Double Metal Grating Reflectors

Owing to the high contrast of the refractive indices at the end facets of a nanowire, lasing emission can be achieved in an individual nanowire without external, reflected feedback. However, the reflection provided by the end facet is not high enough to lower the threshold gain, especially for nanowires with smaller diameters. This work proposes a novel structure of nanowire laser partially sandwiched in double Ag gratings. Compared to a nanowire with a single metal grating or without a grating, the parallel double metal gratings play the reflector role with higher reflectivity to enhance the round-trip feedback and reduce the threshold gain. The reflective properties are calculated using the finite elements method. Simulation results show that a high reflectivity of more than 90% can be achieved when the number of periods is more than 8. The reflectivity of double gratings is 2.4 times larger than that of the nanowire end facet for large nanowire diameters. When the nanowire has a small diameter of 150 nm, the reflectivity of double gratings is 17 times larger than that of the nanowire end facet. Compared to a single grating, the reflective performance of double gratings is much better. Owing to the highly reflective properties of the double gratings, nanowires partially sandwiched in the double gratings can realize lasing emission at a very low threshold gain, and the period of the grating can be very short to benefit on-chip interconnection systems.

An electrically driven whispering gallery polariton microlaser

Near-infrared micro/nanolaser devices utilizing low-dimensional semiconductors can provide essential building blocks to achieve integrated optoelectronic devices and circuitry for advanced functionalities and are compatible with on-chip technologies. Although significant progress has been made through using narrow-band semiconductor micro/nanostructures to realize near-infrared stimulated radiation at room temperature, severe challenges still remain involving much lower quantum efficiencies and higher auger recombination. Herein, we report an experimental realization of a current-injection semiconductor polariton device made of a ZnO microwire via Ga-doping (ZnO:Ga MW) and p-type GaAs template. The device can emit polaritonic illumination directly from sharp edges of the hexagonal MW. The experimental results of angle-resolved electroluminescence measurements reveal a typical anticrossing feature between excitons and cavity modes, unambiguous evidence of the strong exciton-polariton coupling, with corresponding Rabi splitting energy extracted to be about 195 meV. As the applied bias goes above a certain value, electrically driven whispering gallery lasing action was achieved in the near-infrared spectrum, and the lasing features can be assigned to the exciton-polariton effect. The results not only can afford insights into the development of low-threshold coherent light sources via the exciton-polariton effect, but also can expand the fabrication of low-dimensional, near-infrared microlaser devices.

Miniaturized GaAs Nanowire Laser with a Metal Grating Reflector

This work proposed a miniaturized nanowire laser with high end-facet reflection. The high end-facet reflection was realized by integrating an Ag grating between the nanowire and the substrate. Its propagation and reflection properties were calculated using the finite elements method. The simulation results show that the reflectivity can be as high as 77.6% for a nanowire diameter of 200 nm and a period of 20, which is nearly three times larger than that of the nanowire without a metal grating reflector. For an equal length of nanowire with/without the metal grating reflector, the corresponding threshold gain is approximately a quarter of that of the nanowire without the metal grating reflector. Owing to the high reflection, the length of the nanowire can be reduced to 0.9 μm for the period of 5, resulting in a genuine nanolaser, composed of nanowire, with three dimensions smaller than 1 μm (the diameter is 200 nm). The proposed nanowire laser with a lowered threshold and reduced dimensions would be of great significance in on-chip information systems and networks.

A Self-Consistent Quantum Field Theory for Random Lasing

The spatial formation of coherent random laser modes in strongly scattering disordered random media is a central feature in the understanding of the physics of random lasers. We derive a quantum field theoretical method for random lasing in disordered samples of complex amplifying Mie resonators which is able to provide self-consistently and free of any fit parameter the full set of transport characteristics at and above the laser phase transition. The coherence length and the correlation volume respectively is derived as an experimentally measurable scale of the phase transition at the laser threshold. We find that the process of stimulated emission in extended disordered arrangements of active Mie resonators is ultimately connected to time-reversal symmetric multiple scattering in the sense of photonic transport while the diffusion coefficient is finite. A power law is found for the random laser mode diameters in stationary state with increasing pump intensity.

Strong Light-Field Driven Nanolasers

Einstein established the quantum theory of radiation and paved the way for modern laser physics including single-photon absorption by charge carriers and finally pumping an active gain medium into population inversion. This can be easily understood in the particle picture of light. Using intense, ultrashort pulse lasers, multiphoton pumping of an active medium has been realized. In this nonlinear interaction regime, excitation and population inversion depend not only on the photon energy but also on the intensity of the incident pumping light, which can be still described solely by the particle picture of light. We demonstrate here that lowering significantly the pump photon energy further still enables population inversion and lasing in semiconductor nanowires. The extremely high electric field of the pump bends the bands and enables tunneling of electrons from the valence to the conduction band. In this regime, the light acts by the classical Coulomb force and population inversion is entirely due to the wave nature of electrons, thus the excitation becomes independent of the frequency but solely depends on the incident intensity of the pumping light.

Room temperature polariton lasing in quantum heterostructure nanocavities

Ultralow-threshold coherent light emitters can be achieved through lasing from exciton-polariton condensates, but this generally requires sophisticated device structures and cryogenic temperatures. Polaritonic nanolasers operating at room temperature lie on the crucial path of related research, not only for the exploration of polariton physics at the nanoscale but also for potential applications in quantum information systems, all-optical logic gates, and ultralow-threshold lasers. However, at present, progress toward room temperature polariton nanolasers has been limited by the thermal instability of excitons and the inherently low quality factors of nanocavities. Here, we demonstrate room temperature polaritonic nanolasers by designing wide-gap semiconductor heterostructure nanocavities to produce thermally stable excitons coupled with nanocavity photons. The resulting mixed states of exciton polaritons with Rabi frequencies of approximately 370 meV enable persistent polariton lasing up to room temperature, facilitating the realization of miniaturized and integrated polariton systems.

Unveiling lasing mechanism in CsPbBr3 microsphere cavities

Recently, the light-matter interaction of perovskite microcavities has been widely explored for its great potential in low-threshold lasing devices. However, the mechanism of perovskite lasing remains unclear to date. In this study, we demonstrated high-quality single-mode excitonic lasing in CsPbBr3 microspheres, providing an ideal platform to study the underlying physics of lasing behavior. We show that the lasing mechanism shifts from the exciton-exciton scattering to the exciton-phonon scattering with the increase in temperature from 77 to 300 K, which was verified by temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) as well as temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, by analyzing PL line width broadening with varied temperatures, we found that two different phonon modes were involved in the exciton-phonon scattering process. The scattering from the low-energy phonon (∼8.6 meV) is the dominant source of exciton-phonon coupling in the intermediate temperature range (77 to 230 K), while the high-energy phonon (∼15.3 meV) dominates from 230 K to room temperature. These results confirm the lasing mechanism in such perovskite-based micro/nano-cavities and significantly influence the development of future low-threshold lasers.

Shift Work Disrupts Circadian Regulation of the Transcriptome in Hospital Nurses

Circadian misalignment between sleep and behavioral/feeding rhythms is thought to lead to various health impairments in shift workers. Therefore, we investigated how shift work leads to genome-wide circadian dysregulation in hospital nurses. Female nurses from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hospital working night shift ( n = 9; 29.6 ± 11.4 y) and day shift ( n = 8; 34.9 ± 9.4 y) participated in a 9-day study measuring locomotor activity and core body temperature (CBT) continuously. Additionally, cortisol and melatonin were assayed and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were harvested for RNA extraction every 3 h on a day off from work. We saw phase desynchrony of core body temperature, peak cortisol, and dim light melatonin onset in individual night-shift subjects compared with day-shift subjects. This variability was evident even though day- and night-shift nurses had similar sleep timing and scheduled meal times on days off. Surprisingly, the phase and rhythmicity of the expression of the clock gene, PER1, in PBMCs were similar for day-shift and night-shift subjects. Genome-wide microarray analysis of PBMCs from a subset of nurses revealed distinct gene expression patterns between night-shift and day-shift subjects. Enrichment analysis showed that day-shift subjects expressed pathways involved in generic transcription and regulation of signal transduction, whereas night-shift subjects expressed pathways such as RNA polymerase I promoter opening, the matrisome, and endocytosis. In addition, there was large variability in the number of rhythmic transcripts among subjects, regardless of shift type. Interestingly, the amplitude of the CBT rhythm appeared to be more consistent with the number of cycling transcripts for each of the 6 subjects than was melatonin rhythm. In summary, we show that shift-work patterns affect circadian alignment and gene expression in PBMCs.

Low-threshold ultraviolet stimulated emissions from large-sized single crystalline ZnO transferable membranes

Wide-bandgap inorganic semiconductors based ultraviolet lasers bring versatile applications with significant advantages including low-power consumption, high-power output, robustness and long-term operation stability. However, flexible membrane lasers remain challenging predominantly due to the need for a lattice matched supporting substrate. Here, we develop a simple laser liftoff process to make freestanding single crystalline ZnO membranes that demonstrate low-threshold ultraviolet stimulated emissions together with large sized dimension (> 2 mm), ultralow-weight (m/A<15 g/m²) and excellent flexibility. The 2.6 μm-thick crack-free ZnO membrane exhibits well-retained single crystallinity and enhanced excitonic emissions while the defect-related emissions are completely suppressed. The inelastic exciton-exciton scattering stimulated emissions with increased spontaneous emission rate is obtained with a reduced threshold of 0.35 MW/cm² in the ZnO membrane transferred onto a flexible polyethylene naphthalate substrate. Theoretical simulations reveal that it is a synergetic effect of the increased quantum efficiency via Purcell effect and the improved optical gain due to vertical directional waveguiding of the membrane, which functions as a Fabry-Perot photonic resonator due to the refractive index contrast at ZnO-air boundaries. With simple architecture, efficient exciton recombination and easy fusion with waveguide system, the ZnO membranes provide an alternative platform to develop compact low-threshold ultraviolet excitonic lasers.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Coherent Polariton Modes in ZnO Microwire Cavities at Room Temperature

Tunable waveguides for propagating coherent quantum states are demanded for future applications in quantum information technology and optical data processing. We present coherent whispering gallery mode polariton states in ZnO-based hexagonal microwires at room temperature. We observed their propagation over the field of view of about 20 μm by picosecond time-resolved real space imaging using a streak camera. Spatial coherence was proven by time integrated Michelson interferometry superimposing the inverted spatial emission pattern with its original one. We furthermore show that the real and momentum space evolution of the coherent states can not only be described by the commonly used model developed for ballistically propagating Bose-Einstein condensates based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation but equivalently by classical ray optics considering a spatially varying particle density dependent refractive index of the cavity material, not yet considered in literature so far. By changing the excitation spot size, the refractive index gradient and thus the propagation velocity is changed.

Edge-emitting polariton laser and amplifier based on a ZnO waveguide

We demonstrate edge-emitting exciton-polariton (polariton) laser operation from 5 to 300 K and polariton amplifiers based on polariton modes within ZnO waveguides. The guided mode dispersion below and above the lasing threshold is directly measured using gratings placed on top of the sample, fully demonstrating the polaritonic nature of the lasing modes. The threshold is found to be smaller than that expected for radiative polaritons in planar ZnO microcavities below 150 K and comparable above. These results open up broad perspectives for guided polaritonics by enabling easier and more straightforward implementation of polariton integrated circuits that exploit fast propagating polaritons, and, possibly, topological protection.

Highly Visible Photoluminescence from Ta-Doped Structures of ZnO Films Grown by HFCVD

Tantalum-doped ZnO structures (ZnO:Ta) were synthesized, and some of their characteristics were studied. ZnO material was deposited on silicon substrates by using a hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) reactor. The raw materials were a pellet made of a mixture of ZnO and Ta2O5 powders, and molecular hydrogen was used as a reactant gas. The percentage of tantalum varied from 0 to 500 mg by varying the percentages of tantalum oxide in the mixture of the pellet source, by holding a fixed amount of 500 mg of ZnO in all experiments. X-ray diffractograms confirmed the presence of zinc oxide in the wurtzite phase, and metallic zinc with a hexagonal structure, and no other phase was detected. Displacements to lower angles of reflection peaks, compared with those from samples without doping, were interpreted as the inclusion of the Ta atoms in the matrix of the ZnO. This fact was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images from undoped samples, mostly micro-sized semi-spherical structures were seen, while doped samples displayed a trend to grow as nanocrystalline rods. The presence of tantalum during the synthesis affected the growth direction. Green photoluminescence was observed by the naked eye when Ta-doped samples were illuminated by ultraviolet radiation and confirmed by photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The PL intensity on the Ta-doped ZnO increased from those undoped samples up to eight times.

Electrically pumped Fabry-Perot microlasers from single Ga-doped ZnO microbelt based heterostructure diodes

Semiconducting micro/nanostructures possessing naturally optical waveguiding behaviors and Fabry-Perot (F-P) like resonances are emerging as versatile building blocks for the assembly of photonic and optoelectronic devices, such as photodetectors, light-emitting diodes, lasers and so on. Individual ZnO micro/nanowires with a rectangular cross-section, such as microwires and microbelts possessing naturally smooth facets along both sides for good optical feedback, can be employed as an underlying F-P mode microcavity whilst as the gain medium for light amplification. In this context, electrically pumped F-P mode microlasers comprising a single ZnO:Ga microbelt and p-GaN substrate have been realized. By treating as the precondition, electrically driven exciton-polariton light-emitting behavior was achieved from the heterojunction diodes, which could be ascribed to strong exciton-photon coupling and waveguided nature of the synthesized microbelts. Once the applied bias exceeded the threshold value, an electrically pumped F-P mode lasing behavior could be observed, the lasing peaks centered at 410.5 nm and 450.5 nm respectively, accompanied with a dramatic narrowing of the spectral line-width to be around 1.0 nm emerging on the waveguided emission spectrum. Therefore, the realization of electrically pumped F-P mode lasing using single microbelt based heterojunction diodes opens the door not only to the fabrication of coherent light sources and model systems for waveguided resonators, but also affords a competitive candidate to develop electrically pumped and ultralow threshold polariton lasers.

Photoluminescence of planar and 3D InGaN/GaN LED structures excited with femtosecond laser pulses close to the damage threshold

We study the photoluminescence emission from planar and 3D InGaN/GaN LED structures, excited using a femtosecond laser with fluences close to sample’s damage threshold. For a typical laser system consisting of a titanium-sapphire regenerative amplifier, which is pumping an optical parametric amplifier delivering output pulses of a few tens of MW pulse power with ∼100 fs pulse duration, 1 kHz repetition rate and a wavelength of 325 nm, we determine the damage threshold of the InGaN/GaN LEDs to be about 0.05 J/cm². We find that the relative intensity of the GaN photoluminescence (PL) and InGaN PL changes significantly close to the damage threshold. The changes are irreversible once the damage threshold is exceeded. As the damage threshold is approached, the InGaN luminescence band blue-shifts by several tens of meV, which is attributed to band filling effects. The PL decay time reduces substantially, by about 30%, when the excitation energy density is increased by approximately two orders of magnitude. The results are comparable for 2D and 3D LED structures, where in the latter case m-plane QWs exhibit different recombination dynamics because of the absence of the quantum confined Stark effect.

Channel Plasmon Nanowire Lasers with V-Groove Cavities

A hybrid channel plasmon nanowire laser based on GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell semiconductor nanowire and silver V-groove is proposed. The laser structure has potential capability of integrating with plasmonic waveguides, using channel plasmon-polariton modes in V-groove plasmonic waveguides. Guiding and lasing properties are numerically calculated using finite elements method. From the theoretical results, the laser could support guiding mode with a smallest diameter of 40 nm. Lasing emission could happen at a relatively low threshold around 2000 cm^- 1 when the diameter is larger than 140 nm. A quite large Purcell factor of 180 could be achieved to enhance the spontaneous emission rate.

Observation of Phase-Filling Singularities in the Optical Dielectric Function of Highly Doped n-Type Ge

Phase-filling singularities in the optical response function of highly doped (>10^{19}  cm^{-3}) germanium are theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Contrary to direct-gap semiconductors, which display the well-known Burstein-Moss phenomenology upon doping, the critical point in the joint density of electronic states associated with the partially filled conduction band in n-Ge corresponds to the so-called E_{1} and E_{1}+Δ_{1} transitions, which are two-dimensional in character. As a result of this reduced dimensionality, there is no edge shift induced by Pauli blocking. Instead, one observes the "original" critical point (shifted only by band gap renormalization) and an additional feature associated with the level occupation discontinuity at the Fermi level. The experimental observation of this feature is made possible by the recent development of low-temperature, in situ doping techniques that allow the fabrication of highly doped films with exceptionally flat doping profiles.

High-Operation-Temperature Plasmonic Nanolasers on Single-Crystalline Aluminum

The recent development of plasmonics has overcome the optical diffraction limit and fostered the development of several important components including nanolasers, low-operation-power modulators, and high-speed detectors. In particular, the advent of surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) nanolasers has enabled the development of coherent emitters approaching the nanoscale. SPP nanolasers widely adopted metal-insulator-semiconductor structures because the presence of an insulator can prevent large metal loss. However, the insulator is not necessary if permittivity combination of laser structures is properly designed. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a SPP nanolaser with a ZnO nanowire on the as-grown single-crystalline aluminum. The average lasing threshold of this simple structure is 20 MW/cm(2), which is four-times lower than that of structures with additional insulator layers. Furthermore, single-mode laser operation can be sustained at temperatures up to 353 K. Our study represents a major step toward the practical realization of SPP nanolasers.

Mode Switching and Filtering in Nanowire Lasers

Coherent light sources confining the light below the vacuum wavelength barrier will drive future concepts of nanosensing, nanospectroscopy, and photonic circuits. Here, we directly image the angular emission of such a light source based on single semiconductor nanowire lasers. It is confirmed that the lasing switches from the fundamental mode in a thin ZnO nanowire to an admixture of several transverse modes in thicker nanowires approximately at the multimode cutoff. The mode competition with higher order modes substantially slows down the laser dynamics. We show that efficient photonic mode filtering in tapered nanowires selects the desired fundamental mode for lasing with improved performance including power, efficiency, and directionality important for an optimal coupling between adjacent nanophotonic waveguides.

Large-scale horizontally aligned ZnO microrod arrays with controlled orientation, periodic distribution as building blocks for chip-in piezo-phototronic LEDs

A novel method of fabricating large-scale horizontally aligned ZnO microrod arrays with controlled orientation and periodic distribution via combing technology is introduced. Horizontally aligned ZnO microrod arrays with uniform orientation and periodic distribution can be realized based on the conventional bottom-up method prepared vertically aligned ZnO microrod matrix via the combing method. When the combing parameters are changed, the orientation of horizontally aligned ZnO microrod arrays can be adjusted (θ = 90° or 45°) in a plane and a misalignment angle of the microrods (0.3° to 2.3°) with low-growth density can be obtained. To explore the potential applications based on the vertically and horizontally aligned ZnO microrods on p-GaN layer, piezo-phototronic devices such as heterojunction LEDs are built. Electroluminescence (EL) emission patterns can be adjusted for the vertically and horizontally aligned ZnO microrods/p-GaN heterojunction LEDs by applying forward bias. Moreover, the emission color from UV-blue to yellow-green can be tuned by investigating the piezoelectric properties of the materials. The EL emission mechanisms of the LEDs are discussed in terms of band diagrams of the heterojunctions and carrier recombination processes.

Electron-hole plasma induced band gap renormalization in ZnO microlaser cavities

We report electron-hole plasma (EHP) lasing in hexagonal ZnO microrods and thin nanobelts. Under the excitation of 325 nm line femtosecond pulsed laser, ultraviolet whispering-gallery mode (WGM) lasing was observed from hexagonal ZnO microrods. When EHP was formed at high excitation energy density, the center wavelength of the WGM lasing band presented a redshift from 387.5 nm to 397.5 nm, and the full width of half maximum (FWHM) of the WGM lasing band increased from 2.5 nm to 7 nm. Each lasing mode showed obvious blueshift and broadening. Such lasing characteristics were attributed to the band gap renormalization (BGR) due to the high carrier concentration at the EHP condition. In addition, EHP Fabry-Perot (F-P) mode lasing from thin ZnO nanobelt was also observed and discussed. According to the phenomenological BGR calculation with including the carrier density dependent screening effect, the values of the band gap of ZnO at different excitation energy densities were obtained, which agree well with the experimental results.

Plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet photoluminescence from the hybrid plasmonic Fabry-Perot microcavity of Ag/ZnO microwires

We propose a kind of hybrid plasmonic Fabry-Perot (F-P) microcavity consisting of ZnO microwires with quadrate cross-section and planar multilayer metal-insulator-metal (MIM) homostructures with a nanoscale SiO₂ gap in between. MIM homostructures can be used to create a micro-resonator that simultaneously provides feedback for laser action and supports the coupling between the plasmonic waveguide modes and microwire modes across the gap. The hybridization of ZnO microwire modes and surface plasmons across the gap forms hybrid plasmonic F-P microcavity modes, which are highly confined to the low-loss SiO₂ gap region. By comparing with bare ZnO microwires, an enhancement in photoluminescence (PL) intensity of two orders of magnitude is realized experimentally due to the coupling between plasmonic MIM homostructures and ZnO microwires. The controllability and miniaturization emission properties of this type of microcavity are potentially important for designing laser cavity applications and information transmission.

Tunability of hybridized plasmonic waveguide mediated by surface plasmon polaritons

A hybridized plasmonic waveguide was proposed, which consisting of two kind of different metal films and a low-dielectric spacer layer inserted between. The spacer could be used to achieve the plasmonic resonance wavelength transfer from 450 nm to 600 nm, as well as the tunability of mode characteristics.

Wavelength tunable single nanowire lasers based on surface plasmon polariton enhanced Burstein-Moss effect

Wavelength tunable semiconductor nanowire (NW) lasers are promising for multifunctional applications ranging from optical communication to spectroscopy analysis. Here, we present a demonstration of utilizing the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) enhanced Burstein-Moss (BM) effect to tune the lasing wavelength of a single semiconductor NW. The photonic lasing mode of the CdS NW (with length ~10 μm and diameter ~220 nm) significantly blue shifts from 504 to 483 nm at room temperature when the NW is in close proximity to the Au film. Systematic steady state power dependent photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL studies validate that the BM effect in the hybrid CdS NW devices is greatly enhanced as a consequence of the strong coupling between the SPP and CdS excitons. With decreasing dielectric layer thickness h from 100 to 5 nm, the enhancement of the BM effect becomes stronger, leading to a larger blue shift of the lasing wavelength. Measurements of enhanced exciton emission intensities and recombination rates in the presence of Au film further support the strong interaction between SPP and excitons, which is consistent with the simulation results.

Continuous wave nanowire lasing

Tin-doped cadmium sulfide nanowires reveal donor-acceptor pair transitions at low-temperature photoluminescence and furthermore exhibit ideal resonator morphology appropriate for lasing at continuous wave pumping. The continuous wave lasing mode is proven by the evolution of the emitted power and spectrum with increasing pump intensity. The high temperature stability up to 120 K at given pumping power is determined by the decreasing optical gain necessary for lasing in an electron-hole plasma.

Type-II ZnO nanorod-SnO2 nanoparticle heterostructures: characterization of structural, optical and photocatalytic properties

In this work we report, for the first time, on the preparation of ZnO nanorod-SnO2 nanoparticle (ZnO NR-SnO2 NP) heterostructures by a simple two-step thermal evaporation approach. Systematical characterization of the product reveals that the rutile SnO2 NPs, with a diameter of about 20 nm, are uniformly and tightly decorated on the entire ZnO NRs. Photoluminescence (PL) investigation on the ZnO NR-SnO2 NP heterostructures shows that they exhibit a significantly decreased UV emission compared with the bare ZnO NRs, revealing an efficient charge separation arising from the type-II band alignment. Enlightened by this merit, photocatalytic behavior of the synthesized heterostructures is studied, which shows a remarkably enhanced photodegradation performance of rhodamine B (RhB) in contrast to the pure ZnO NRs. We also carry out the stability test of the ZnO NR-SnO2 NP heterostructures and the result indicates an extremely high adhesion nature between the ZnO NR and the coated SnO2 NPs. This advantage endowed with the thermal evaporation approach can lead to an efficient spatial charge separation between the ZnO NR and the SnO2 NPs and thus effectively minimize the charge recombination along three-dimensional heterointerfaces, which makes such ZnO NR-SnO2 NP architectures highly promising for a wide range of photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications.

Vertical-cavity and randomly scattered lasing from different thicknesses of epitaxial ZnO films grown on Y₂O₃-buffered Si (111)

Two different types of lasing modes, vertical Fabry-Perot cavity and random lasing, were observed in ZnO epi-films of different thicknesses grown on Si (111) substrates. Under optical excitation at room temperature by a frequency tripled Nd:YVO₄ laser with wavelength of 355 nm, the lasing thresholds are low due to high crystalline quality of the ZnO epitaxial films, which act as microresonators. For the thick ZnO layer (1,200 nm), its lasing action is originated from the random scattering due to the high density of crack networks developed in the thick ZnO film. However, the low crack density of the thin film (555 nm) fails to provide feedback loops essential for random scattering. Nevertheless, even the lower threshold lasing is achieved by the Fabry-Perot cavity formed by two interfaces of the thin ZnO film. The associated lasing modes of the thin ZnO film can be characterized as the transverse Gaussian modes attributed to the smooth curved surfaces.

Highly enhanced exciton recombination rate by strong electron-phonon coupling in single ZnTe nanobelt

Electron-phonon coupling plays a key role in a variety of elemental excitations and their interactions in semiconductor nanostructures. Here we demonstrate that the relaxation rate of free excitons in a single ZnTe nanobelt (NB) is considerably enhanced via a nonthermalized hot-exciton emission process as a result of an ultrastrong electron-phonon coupling. Using time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and resonant Raman spectroscopy (RRS), we present a comprehensive study on the identification and the dynamics of free/bound exciton recombination and the electron-phonon interactions in crystalline ZnTe NBs. Up to tenth-order longitudinal optical (LO) phonons are observed in Raman spectroscopy, indicating an ultrastrong electron-phonon coupling strength. Temperature-dependent PL and RRS spectra suggest that electron-phonon coupling is mainly contributed from Light hole (LH) free excitons. With the presence of hot-exciton emission, two time constants (∼80 and ∼18 ps) are found in photoluminescence decay curves, which are much faster than those in many typical semiconductor nanostructures. Finally we prove that under high excitation power amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) originating from the electron-hole plasma occurs, thereby opening another radiative decay channel with an ultrashort lifetime of few picoseconds.