Theoretical Study of High Near-Field Enhancement Associated with the Lasing Action in Strongly Coupled Plasmonic Nanocavity Arrays

Lasing action in strongly coupled plasmonic nanocavity arrays was investigated both theoretically and experimentally. This phenomenon was generated by coupling a gain medium with a surface lattice plasmon resonance mode. In this paper, the near-field properties of this laser are investigated theoretically. It is showed that the lasing action is associated with a strong near-field enhancement at the emission wavelength that can be 4 orders of magnitude higher than what could be generated by the same nanostructure without the gain medium. The field enhancement depends non-linearly on the pumping energy. Finally, the enhancement mechanism in such an active system is assumed to rely mainly on energy transfer at the nanoscale from molecules composing the gain medium to the plasmonic mode.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the lasing action in strongly coupled plasmonic nanocavity arrays, showing that the lasing action is closely related to near-field enhancement and depends on pumping energy. The enhancement mechanism is mainly based on energy transfer from molecules composing the gain medium to the plasmonic mode at the nanoscale.