B36 J. Opt. Soc. Am. B / Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 Martin T.

Hill

Status and prospects for metallic and plasmonic

nano-lasers [Invited]

Martin T. Hill
Department of Electrical Engineering, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Postbus 513,
5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands (m.t.hill@ieee.org)

Received July 7, 2010; revised August 22, 2010; accepted August 24, 2010;
posted September 3, 2010 (Doc. ID 131276); published October 12, 2010
A remarkable miniaturization of lasers has occurred in just the past few years by employing metals to form the
laser resonator. From having minimum laser dimensions being at least several wavelengths of the light emit-
ted, many devices have been shown where the laser size is of a wavelength or less. Additionally some devices
show lasing in structures significantly smaller than the wavelength of light in several dimensions, and the
optical mode is far smaller than allowed by the diffraction limit. In this article we review what has been
achieved then look forward to what some of the directions development could take and where possible appli-
cations could lie. In particular we show that there are devices with an optical size slightly larger or near the
diffraction limit which could soon be employed in many applications requiring coherent light sources. Appli-
cation of devices with dimensions far below the diffraction limit is also on the horizon, but may take more time.
© 2010 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 250.5403, 250.5960.

1. INTRODUCTION into the metal, which is typically of the order of tens of

There has been a steady push to further miniaturize la-
sers and other photonic devices, as there are benefits
similar to those seen with the shrinking dimensions of
electronic components. A smaller laser requires less
power and can potentially be switched on and off faster.
An excellent example of this process is the Vertical Cavity
Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) [1]. This was the first la-
ser with a wavelength scale optical mode and it is being
employed in an increasing number of applications. How-
ever, in the past decade, the main thrust of research in
nano-lasers has been into photonic crystal cavity lasers
[2]. Here the light is confined strongly in two dimensions
by what are effectively two-dimensional Bragg mirrors
formed by making a pattern of holes in a high-refractive-
index semiconductor. In all of these cavities the refractive
index differences of dielectric materials are used to con-
fine the light. The smallest dimensions to which the opti-
cal mode of such cavities can be confined is related to the
diffraction limit, and is of the order of one half of the
wavelength of light in the dielectric material. Addition-
ally, the dielectric mirror structure typically has to be
many wavelengths in size in order to be effective, imply-
ing that the total laser size is still large compared to the
wavelength of light.
In theory it is possible to confine light with the use of
metals to form the laser resonator. The metal may form
either strong compact mirrors, able to confine light to
about the size of the diffraction limit, or the light may in-
teract strongly with the free electrons in the metal, being
guided in the form of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs)
at the interface between a metal (conductor) and a dielec-
tric (non-conducting) material such as air [3,4]. The mini-
mum size scales of structures employing this form of light
confinement is related to the penetration depth of light
nanometers. Until recently many researchers doubted if
it would be possible to overcome the losses in plasmonic or
metallic waveguides and cavities with the currently avail-
able optical gain materials. Unfortunately, the metal’s
conduction electrons, which oscillate in synchronism with
the optical field, dissipate energy through collisions with
the metal’s atomic lattice. This energy dissipation leads to
high optical losses, so SPPs can travel only short dis-
tances, and metal mirrors have higher losses than dielec-
tric ones. However, a number of workers did examine the
possibility of using gain in metallic waveguides [5–7].
However, in the past couple of years efforts to use met-
als to form the nano-laser resonator have allowed both
the overall size of the laser to be reduced to smaller than
the wavelength of light, and also the optical mode dimen-
sions to be reduced below the diffraction limit. The
progress that has been made by many groups in just a few
years has been remarkable. Some of these devices are
coming close to being useful light sources, and it may be
only a few years before we see lasers based on metallic
nano-structures in applications. In this article we review
the progress that has been made in metallic and plas-
monic nano-lasers. Next we look at some of the significant
advantages that the use of metals brings to nano-lasers
and how they may be employed in useful devices or to fur-
ther knowledge. Some of the most promising forms of
metal-based nano-lasers have semiconductor gain media
as their basis. Semiconductor gain media can be electri-
cally pumped efficiently, which will be of major impor-
tance for applications. We will look at a couple of the ma-
jor forms possible for electrically pumped devices and
highlight some of the directions that research and devel-
opment into these devices could take.
Metallic or plasmonic nano-lasers will likely become

0740-3224/10/110B36-9/$15.00 © 2010 Optical Society of America

Martin T. Hill
technologically significant, particularly when the laser
and mode size can be reduced far below the diffraction
limit. Briefly, some of the reasons for this significance are
as follows: (1) There is a perceived need for small, fast,
low-power lasers to cope with the increasing bandwidth of
communications inside and between integrated circuits.
(2) The ability to make arrays of coherent emitters with
sub-wavelength pitch may open up new applications. (3)
These metallic devices could offer improved light emitters
compared to dielectric cavity devices, particularly for the
longer wavelengths. (4) Having ultra-high-speed low
power lasers may open up the possibility for optical signal
processing that is competitive with electronics in the
high-performance region.(5) Finally these devices will
also provide important sources and amplifiers for sub-
wavelength plasmonic circuits.
2. STATE OF THE ART FOR METALLIC/
PLASMONIC NANO-LASERS
The first report of lasing in metallic nano-structures oc-
curred in 2007 [8]. Here a round semiconductor pillar en-
capsulated in a dielectric and then gold was pumped elec-
trically (Fig. 1(a)). The pillar had an overall diameter of
approximately 260 nm and an InGaAs active region
height of 300 nm. The presence of the InGaAs hetero-
structure in the pillar and the metal formed a resonator
with an optical mode trapped on the InGaAs gain medium
(Fig. 1(b)). At cryogenic temperatures it was possible to
obtain sufficient gain in the InGaAs to overcome losses in
the resonator and achieve lasing at a wavelength of ap-
proximately 1400 nm. In semiconductor lasers, operation
is often first demonstrated at low temperatures due to the
ease of obtaining higher optical gains [1,9]. Additionally
Fig. 1. (Color online) A number of groups have made metallic or
plasmonic nano-lasers recently. a. One approach that has been
pursued by several groups is to encapsulate a semiconductor het-
erostructure pillar in an insulator, then a low-optical-loss metal
such as silver or aluminium. Such an approach is particularly
suitable for electrical pumping of the laser. The InP / InGaAs het-
erostructure shown is used with an SiN insulator. Some light in
the optical mode escapes through the bottom of the pillar and the
substrate. b. The optical mode in such structures is trapped on
the InGaAs gain region in the center of the pillar due to refrac-
tive index differences. The contour lines show 兩E兩2 of the trapped
optical mode in a slice through the pillar center, with color giving
intensity. The arrows show the magnitude and direction of the
time averaged Poynting vector for this slice of the mode, and
show that the energy of the mode is mostly being dissipated as
heat in the metal sidewalls.
Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. B B37
evidence of reduced optical losses in the metals has been
reported at low temperatures [8,10] due to reduced pho-
non scattering of free electrons. The light in the cavity
was tightly contained in a region with dimensions ap-
proximately one half the wavelength of light in the me-
dium, and the mode was a hybrid electric (HE11) mode
[11]. Further developments of this pillar concept were
shown in 2009 with lasing in metal–insulator–metal
(MIM) waveguides with a core width approximately one
quarter the wavelength of light in the medium, or about
half the diffraction limit, and propagating a gap-plasmon
or transverse magnetic (TM) mode [12]. Furthermore
room temperature lasing was also shown in slightly wider
waveguides that propagated a transverse electric (TE)
mode.
A number of other groups also showed in 2009 nano-
lasers made from metal semiconductor structures lasing
in the near infrared. In particular a design emerged based
on a metal/dielectric encapsulated semiconductor hetero-
structure that showed room temperature operation for an
optically pumped device that was less than a free space
wavelength of light in all three dimensions [13]. This de-
vice exploited a TE mode to obtain a higher cavity Q and
lower lasing threshold. Others at the California Institute
of Technology showed evidence of lasing in a microdisk
cavity having one side coated with metal [14]. Another
group showed lasing at cryogenic temperatures in a small
patch of metal/semiconductor/metal sandwich named a
nano-patch laser [10]. Both TE and TM lasing modes were
observed.
Meanwhile, with a different approach and at far
shorter wavelengths, researchers at the University of
California at Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, and Peking University showed lasing in a sec-
tion of a hybrid dielectric/plasmonic waveguide [15]. The
waveguide is constructed from a flat metal substrate (sil-
ver) coated with a thin dielectric layer on which a thin
semiconductor nano-wire is placed. The optical mode
propagating in the silver/dielectric/semiconductor wave-
guide has a significant amount of its energy squeezed into
the thin dielectric gap between the nano-wire and the
metal substrate, leading to a highly localized mode which
has, according to calculations, an area that is significantly
below the diffraction limit. The tail of the propagating
mode overlaps with the semiconductor nano-wire, which
acts as the gain medium. The nano-wire forms a Fabry–
Perot cavity with the plasmonic modes resonating be-
tween its two ends (which are a few micrometers or more
apart). Using short optical pulses to pump the semicon-
ductor nano-wire, lasing is shown in the Fabry-Perot cav-
ity at low temperatures in the blue part of the visible
spectrum.
However, probably the most remarkable nano-laser
was reported by researchers at Norfolk State University,
Purdue, and Cornell. They show lasing in a gold nanopar-
ticle with a diameter of 14 nm that is surrounded by a
silica shell containing dye molecules that exhibit optical
gain (to give an overall diameter of 44 nm) [16]. The gold
nano-particle that forms the optical cavity has a plasmon
resonance at a wavelength of ⬃520 nm. When the dye
molecules are pumped by short optical pulses, there is
sufficient gain created to overcome the losses in the gold,
B38 J. Opt. Soc. Am. B / Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010
and a coherent source of highly localized SPPs is created.
It is truly remarkable to demonstrate such a laser-like de-
vice with a cavity, gain medium, and optical mode that
are all an order of magnitude smaller than the wave-
length of light in all three dimensions. This device may be
the first example of a spaser—surface plasmon amplifica-
tion by stimulated emission of radiation [17].
As technology and designs improve there have been
more demonstrations of devices, and in particular more
devices working at room temperature, which is important
for applications. One device of note is an encapsulated pil-
lar device that also incorporates a Bragg mirror in the
base of the pillar [18]. This device, although still with a
large diameter of 2 ␮m (further size reduction is pos-
sible), does show continuous room temperature lasing
with electrical pumping. Hence, some forms of metallic or
plasmonic nano-lasers may soon be suitable for applica-
tions.
3. POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES
The use of metals to construct all or part of the resonator
for a nano-laser has a number of significant advantages
compared to the use of dielectrics:
Electrical contacts and connections for pumping the
gain medium can now form part of the laser itself instead
of being kept at a distance as in the case of most
dielectric-based nano-laser designs [19]. The metal cavity
may also serve as part of a heat sink. Heating is one of the
major limiting factors of nano-lasers [19]. Often, low-
index materials that are poor heat conductors surround
the dielectric cavity. In contrast, metals like silver have
many times higher thermal conductivity than the most
thermally conductive optical semiconductor materials,
and orders of magnitude higher conductivity than most
low-index materials used to obtain good confinement in
dielectric nano-lasers. This thermal advantage is particu-
larly strong for the case when the device is formed via an
encapsulated heterostructure, as discussed later. Here,
the nano-scale gain medium is surrounded by a solid
metal structure that can be made arbitrarily large.
In the cases mentioned in the introduction a number of
widely varying approaches were used to create the cavi-
ties for the various devices. Furthermore the form and
confinement of the mode was widely varied, including the
ability to make resonator designs with dimensions below
the diffraction limit. This is a particular advantage of us-
ing metals. Compared to dielectric reflectors like Bragg
gratings or photonic crystals, metals can form strong
broadband reflectors with minimum dimensions of the or-
der of a few tens of nanometers. Such reflectors can be
used in widely varying cavity or waveguide designs. Ad-
ditionally, in designs where the metal cavity forms part of
a larger metal structure, higher optical intensities may be
supported than with dielectric mirrors.
The metal nano-laser’s small size, electrical connec-
tions, powerful heatsinking, and, if desired, a suitably
short photon lifetime in the cavity allows a number of pos-
sibilities. In particular, the material can be pumped con-
tinuously at very high pump densities, thus achieving
very high material gains and also possibly extremely high
modulation bandwidths [20].
Martin T. Hill
4. ELECTRICALLY PUMPED
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
In looking further at possible applications and develop-
ment directions for metallic/plasmonic lasers we will fo-
cus on electrically pumped devices, and in particular the
encapsulated heterostructure devices. The reason for this
is that these devices are perhaps the most promising for
electrical pumping, which will be important for many ap-
plications. Furthermore a number of groups have already
successfully made lasers employing this concept or some
variation on it [8,12,13,18]. We will look at the possibili-
ties of two broad classes of devices that have already been
demonstrated: (1) isolated nano-cavity devices that func-
tion with light emission vertical to the device substrate
wafer, somewhat similar to the VCSEL; (2) devices that
are made as part of a wave guiding system; in particular
we look at the MIM waveguide systems [21,22].
A. Surface Emitting Type Devices
A number of groups have shown isolated laser devices
that function by emitting their light through the sub-
strate of the device wafer [8,13,18].
Typically these devices have a circular pillar cross sec-
tion, though other shapes are possible. The devices func-
tion by trapping the optical mode on the higher-index cen-
ter region of the pillar. Above and below this region there
is no propagation, as the metal waveguide is in cutoff at
the operating frequency. In these devices the energy in
the optical mode is traveling back and forth between the
pillar sidewalls. Figure 1(b) shows the Poynting vector of
such a mode, and this movement of energy into the side-
walls can be seen. The modal energy is eventually dissi-
pated as heat in the metal. However, some of the energy
from the optical mode can escape to the substrate due to
the finite length of the waveguide section under the gain
region.
More recently, metal encapsulated devices that are
closer to a traditional VCSEL have been demonstrated.
Here the confinement of the mode in the vertical direction
is aided by the use of Bragg mirrors and the silver top
contact [18].
To make a useful laser device the energy from the opti-
cal mode must be emitted into free space and collected for
the particular application. To obtain the highest efficiency
for the device it is desirable that the smallest proportion
of the optical mode energy be dissipated as heat in the
metal, and the greatest proportion be emitted out of the
cavity through the substrate. For the devices relying on
trapped cutoff modes to obtain the vertical confinement,
there is a tradeoff between the maximum cavity quality
factor Q and the amount of light emitted to the external
environment, just as in most laser devices [23]. By mak-
ing the length of the cutoff waveguide under the active
layer shorter, more of the modal light can escape the cav-
ity. Figure 2(a) shows the structure of a surface emitting
pillar device. This device operates with a TE01 resonant
mode, a plot of which is given in Fig. 2(b). Figure 2(c)
shows a plot of the cavity Q for various lengths of the InP
waveguide below the InGaAs gain region h. The device
has a circular center gain region of InGaAs 440 nm in di-
ameter and 300 nm thick, with a silicon dioxide insula-
Martin T. Hill Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. B B39

Fig. 2. (Color online) a. Slice through silver encapsulated semiconductor core pillar device showing details of its structure used in a
simulation. The height of the InGaAs core is 300 nm. The light gray region between the InGaAs core and silver is the SiO2. The substrate
below the pillar is InP. The height parameter h can be varied to modify the Q of the cavity, allowing more or less light from the cavity
mode to leak to the outside of the cavity. Typically electrical contacts to these pillar devices to pump the InGaAs gain region can be made
through the top of the pillar via the actual silver encapsulation, and another contact to the other side of the InGaAs gain region via the
InP substrate. b. FDTD simulation results showing 兩E兩2 plot of a slice through the pillar indicating a TE mode centered on the InGaAs
and leaking power to the substrate. c. Plot of quality factor of cavity versus length of InP stub under the InGaA shows tradeoff can be
made between Q and emission efficiency.

tion layer 80 nm thick. For a long InP waveguide section forced to lase far from its band-edge. Figure 3 shows the
the Q is approximately 1400. For an optimized choice of spectra from a series of round pillar devices that were fab-
InGaAs insulation layer thickness, maximum Qs of the ricated next to each other on the same wafer and that op-
order of 3000 are possible [13]. For shorter and shorter erate with a HE11 mode. Here the devices are very simi-
sections of waveguide the Q decreases, indicating that lar to those reported in [8], with the main difference being
more and more energy is escaping to the substrate. Room that the gold used for the cavity in [8] was replaced with
temperature lasing in devices with Qs of the order of just silver. The devices are operated at 78 K, with continuous
a few hundred has been shown [12,18]. Hence it is pos- electrical pumping of between 30 and 60 ␮A. The diam-
sible in such devices to make an intelligent tradeoff be- eter changes between each device by approximately
tween Q and confinement in order to obtain efficient gen- 20 nm. It can be seen that the nano-laser wavelength can
eration of lasing light. be widely varied while using the same substrate and gain
Coupling the emitted light into a narrow beam with the material.
desired direction, or perhaps some waveguide, is another This wavelength tuning could be used to advantage for
step that needs to be addressed and will certainly form an certain applications when compared to more conventional
important line of research. It can be seen from Fig. 2(b) VCSEL designs. In VCSELs the epitaxially grown Bragg
that the beam maxima propagate into the substrate at mirror may to a significant extent limit the range of las-
about 45° to the vertical. In principle a high-numerical- ing wavelengths. Additionally the metal used to contain
aperture lens should be able to capture most of the emit- light in these devices is effective over a wide wavelength
ted light. Optimization of the cavity shape for the TE01 or range from the blue in the visible to the far infrared. Ef-
other modes could possibly produce more directed beams.
Also, it has been shown that light from sub-wavelength
apertures can be emitted in narrow beams [24]. For the
waveguide type metallic devices discussed in the next
subsection, there are already schemes for efficient cou-
pling of light from metallic waveguides to dielectric
waveguides, and these will be mentioned there.
The TE01 mode pillar device described above is just one
example of how metallic/plasmonic nano-lasers could be
employed as efficient coherent light sources. As men-
tioned earlier, there is considerable freedom in the form,
size, and how metals are incorporated into a cavity, so
there will be many approaches to making efficiently emit-
ting nano-laser devices [25]. Another aspect is that these
cavities have been shown to have high Purcell factors
[8,13], which can dramatically increase the emission effi-
ciency for light emitting diodes (LEDs). It may be that for
some applications, lasing is not required, rather the en-
hanced spontaneous emission is a sufficient advantage
[26]. Fig. 3. (Color online) Three spectra from three separate pillar
In the devices that rely on a cutoff mode to confine the devices in a row. The devices operate with a HE11 mode and the
light vertically, the resonant wavelength is determined by diameter of the pillar differs by approximately 20 nm between
each device. The plot shows that single-mode lasing over a wide
the shape and size of the cavity. For small cavities, an ex- range of wavelengths can be achieved with devices on the same
tremely large free spectral range can be achieved, hence wafer and close to each other. The spectra have been offset by
only one mode can lase, and the gain medium can be 3000 counts from each other for clarity.
B40 J. Opt. Soc. Am. B / Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 Martin T. Hill

fective Bragg mirrors on the other hand can be difficult to
realize at all wavelengths, so for some wavelengths the
metal-confined device may be simpler to produce.
Like VCSELS, these surface emitting metallic nano-
lasers can be formed into arrays of emitters. However
they have a number of significant advantages. Dielectric-
based cavities cannot be formed into arrays of indepen-
dent devices spaced less than a few wavelengths apart. It
has been suggested that metallic nano-lasers will permit
arrays of independent devices with sub-wavelength spac-
ing. Furthermore, in contrast to conventional VCSEL de-
vices, the wavelength of the individual devices in an array
can be varied at will over a large range in one step at the
time of manufacture just by changing the pillar size.
Some of the suggested applications for such arrays are for
atom traps, sub-wavelength scanning [13], and inter-chip
communications [18].
Another emerging application of VCSEL arrays are for
high-power laser sources [27]. Arrays of metallic nano-
structures may turn out to be superior to VCSELs in
these applications, due to their inherent high quality
heatsinking.
In summary, the combination of sub-wavelength size
and packing density, powerful control over wavelength,
and prospects for good heat sinking may make these types
of devices attractive for many applications of lasers and
light emission.
B. Waveguide Type Devices
The surface emitting devices discussed above will mostly
likely exploit higher-Q oscillatory modes inside the metal
cavities [11]. Such modes have minimum sizes close to the
diffraction limit 共␭ / 2 n兲. The unique property of metal
cavities is that light can be confined to regions smaller
than the diffraction limit. The high intensity of the elec-
tric field that occurs at the metal–dielectric interface can
lead to a modal volume much smaller than the diffraction
limit [4]. However, the optical field still extends distances
of the order of a wavelength away from the interface,
placing a limit on how closely devices can be packed. One
of the few metallic structures that permit true deep sub-
wavelength confinement of light is the MIM waveguide
structure [21,22]. Here the light can be confined inside an
arbitrarily small insulator layer between two metal slabs.
Penetration into the metal on each side of the insulator is
typically also limited to a few tens of nanometers [22], al-
lowing in principle tightly packed waveguides [28].
There have been a number of experiments involving
placing optical emission and gain material inside MIM
waveguide structures. The most obvious method to make
MIM waveguides is to deposit metal, then insulator, then
metal onto a flat substrate. This construction method has
been used to make surface plasmon emitting devices
[29,30], where the insulator between the metals has been
replaced by light emitting material. For far infrared
wavelengths this technique has also been successful in
making lasing devices [31] with semiconductor gain ma-
terial. In all these devices the confining metal plates also
serve as electrical contacts. For far infrared devices the
semiconductor layer thickness is several micrometers and
allows for specially doped layers to give efficient electrical
contacts. However, for shorter wavelengths, where the
semiconductor layer thickness is reduced to a few tens of
nanometers, providing both good contact layers and gain
layers may be difficult.
Our approach has been to place the MIM waveguide on
its side by etching long thin waveguide structures
through the epitaxially grown substrate. Then we evapo-
rate metal onto the sidewalls of the pillar. The refractive-
index difference between the InP and InGaAs isolates the
mode on the InGaAs gain region [32]. This configuration
has the advantage that the electrical contacts that inject
the carriers into the gain InGaAs region are located away
from the tightly confined optical mode. Furthermore a
thin insulation layer isolates the metal from the semicon-
ductor gain medium (Fig. 4(a)).
We have constructed sections of these waveguides ter-
minated in metal mirrors to form Fabry-Perot cavities.
This is achieved simply by totally encapsulating a pillar
that has a thin rectangular cross-section in silver. The di-

Fig. 4. (Color online) a. Electrically pumped MIM waveguide structure that has the usual flat MIM configuration turned on its side. The
propagating mode is confined to the InGaAs gain region in the center of the waveguide by index differences. The dark (red online) region
under the top n-contact is n-InGaAs employed to give low contact resistance. The gold/gray layers to the side and at the bottom of the
ridge are Au/ Ti layers employed to help bond the silver encapsulation to the semiconductor/dielectric core. The schematic shows a cut
through the ridge structure. In actual devices the ends of the ridge are also encapsulated in dielectric and silver of the same thickness
as the sidewalls. b. Plot of 兩E兩2 for the gap-plasmon mode taken horizontally across the waveguide structure for a 25 nm wide InGaAs
region and 5 nm thick SiN insulator. The lighter lines (blue online) are for the real refractive indices of InGaAs and SiN, darker (red
online) when the SiN has its refractive index equal to that of InGaAs. A significant proportion of the modal energy can travel in the
insulator, which can increase the gain requirements from the InGaAs. c. SEM photos of sections of waveguide cores; after being encap-
sulated in silver they will form Fabry–Perot cavities. The scale bar is 1 ␮m.
Martin T. Hill
electric and silver layer thickness was the same all round
the pillar. Some light from the lasing mode could escape
through the substrate to show what was occurring inside
the cavity. For improved light extraction the waveguide
could be cut to remove the silver encapsulation at the end
of the cavity. With this concept we have shown lasing
based on the propagation of TM0 or gap-plasmon modes
along the waveguide [12]. The width of the semiconductor
core in these waveguides was as thin as ⬃90 nm. Electri-
cal contacting to such thin waveguides is possible, since
the small electrical contact at the top of the semiconduc-
tor core is connected to a much larger metallic structure.
This metallic structure includes the encapsulating silver
shell, Fig. 4(a).
The insulator surrounding the semiconductor typically
has a lower refractive index n than the semiconductor.
For example, InGaAs with n = 3.6 and silicon nitride with
n = 2. The discontinuity in the refractive index of the MIM
waveguide core causes a significant deviation from the
mode shape of a TM0 mode [21] (Fig. 4(b)). However, as
with MIM waveguides containing a homogeneous core the
insulator part of the waveguide can be made arbitrarily
thin while still propagating a mode.
In the vertical direction the mode can also be strongly
confined. In the literature this has been shown to be pos-
sible via simulations using either the change in refractive
index or an indentation of the waveguide sidewalls
[32,33]. Effective-index arguments have been used to ex-
plain such confinement. With the presence of the insulat-
ing layer the effective index of the mode does not change
strongly in the pillar. Furthermore, with the indented
structures there are coupled surface plasmon modes on
the tops and bottoms of the metal indentations. Neverthe-
less, numerical simulations of such structures show that
the mode can still be strongly confined in the vertical di-
rection, even to levels well below the diffraction limit.
A particularly strong vertical confinement is achieved if
a combination of index loading and indentation of the
waveguide is employed [34], as shown in the schematic of
Fig. 5(a). Figure 5(b) shows a slice through a simulated
3D structure of such a waveguide. Here the InGaAs re-
gion in the center is approximately 25 nm thick and the
InP cladding is indented approximately 60 nm on each
side. The SiN layer is 5 nm thick all over the sidewalls.
The grid size used in the simulation is 5 nm, and this grid
discretization can be seen in Fig. 5(b). Figure 5(c) shows
the mode profile of such a waveguide calculated with 3D
FDTD for wavelengths of ⬃1500 nm with the back-to-
back-C-shaped areas in the center (red online) indicating
the highest intensity regions. It can be seen that in the
vertical direction the mode is tightly contained in the cen-
ter region. Figure 6(a) gives a plot of the proportion of
mode energy contained in the 45 nm thick InGaAs layer
as a function of the width at the waist of the waveguide.
The InP cladding is indented by 60 nm on each side for all
the width points. It can be seen that for small waveguide
waists the mode is strongly confined in the vertical direc-
tion. Even for larger widths, the mode is still several
times more strongly confined than would be the case for a
TM0 mode in a wide slab waveguide without the indenta-
tion and metal sidewalls.
To form a laser requires not only a cavity but gain me-
Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. B B41
dia with sufficient optical gain and sufficient overlap with
the lasing mode to overcome the optical losses. To place
the minimum requirements on the optical gain medium
requires that the optical mode energy have the highest
overlap with the gain medium. Unfortunately as can be
seen from Fig. 4(b), a significant amount of modal energy
is contained in the dielectric layer between the semicon-
ductor and the metal, reducing the proportion of the
modal energy overlapping with the gain medium. As the
width of the semiconductor region is reduced and the
thickness of the insulator kept constant, this proportion is
reduced. There will likely be a minimum practical thick-
ness of insulator needed to effectively isolate the metal
from the semiconductor and passivate the semiconductor
surface, typically of the order of a few nanometers. Given
the finite maximum gain available from any optical gain
material, this reduced overlap due to the mode energy in
the insulator and the metal will place a limit on the
smallest size of a device. The optical energy peak in the
insulator does lead to a small calculated optical mode vol-
ume [15]. However it is not desirable when the goal is to
reduce the physical laser size and in particular the gain
region size to the smallest possible.
Calculations indicate that with widths of semiconduc-
tor around 25 nm, an insulator thickness of 5 nm, silver
as the metal, and wavelengths around 1.5 microns, then
an optical gain of ⬃2500 cm−1 is required [35]. This may
be increased depending on how the mode overlaps the
gain material in the vertical direction. In any case such
gains are in theory possible from bulk semiconductor ma-
terials, even at room temperature [9]. Higher optical
gains in semiconductors have been inferred in recent
nano-laser experiments [18,36] involving semiconductors.
If the miniaturization of the gain medium can be made to
the point where quantum confinement effects (typically if
the dimensions of the gain medium are less than a few
tens of nanometers) then potentially higher optical gains
could be achieved of the order of 104 to 105 cm−1 [37]. Fig-
ure 6(b) shows a plot of gain required for lasing versus In-
GaAs core width for the structures relating to Figs. 5(b)
and 6(a). The crosses show the gain required if in the ver-
tical direction all the modal energy were contained in the
InGaAs layer. For a relatively thick InGaAs layer such a
Fig. 5. (Color online) a. Structure of an active surface plasmon
polariton gap waveguide. Lithography, dry etching, and selective
wet etching can be used to form the three-dimensional nano-
structure. Metal can be deposited by evaporation around the
form to complete the waveguide and provide a top electrical con-
tact. b. Slice through simulated 3D structure with deviations
from the idealized shape to take into account what can be
achieved with typical fabrication techniques. The InGaAs is
45 nm high and 25 nm wide. The InP cladding has an indenta-
tion of approximately 60 nm on each side. c. Plot of 兩E兩2 from
FDTD simulation of such a structure showing tightly confined
mode.
B42 J. Opt. Soc. Am. B / Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 Martin T. Hill

Fig. 6. (Color online) a. Simulated (3D FDTD) vertical confinement of the modal energy in the 45 nm thick InGaAs layer found by
looking at 兩E兩2 through the center of the waveguide pillar, versus InGaAs width. The straight line at the bottom (red online) is the con-
finement for a TM0 mode in such a InP / InGaAs heterostructure with a width of 2 ␮m, but without metal or sidewall indentations. b. The
crosses show the gain required if in the vertical direction all the modal energy were contained in the InGaAs layer. This is found by using
a mode solver and looking at the energy distribution across the waveguide. For a relatively thick InGaAs layer such a threshold gain
would be approached. The circles show the gain required if the vertical energy confinement shown in Fig. 6(a) is taken into account by
dividing the gain of the curve of crosses with the vertical energy confinement.

threshold gain would be approached. The circles show the
gain required if the vertical energy confinement shown in
Fig. 6(a) were taken into account. It can be seen that for
an InGaAs width of 25 nm and a thickness of 45 nm a
gain of ⬃4000 cm−1 is required.
In any case, there is in theory potential to reduce the
size of such semiconductor laser devices down to a few
tens of nanometers in at least two dimensions. We have
been developing technology to realize these very small de-
vice sizes. In particular a number of issues need to be ad-
dressed. Roughness of the pillar sidewall needs to be
small. We have managed to reduce the sidewall rough-
ness to the level of a few nanometers or less. The shape of
the sidewall needs to be indented consistently along the
length of the pillar and the shape of the indentation con-
trolled to allow consistent deposition of metals and dielec-
trics in the grooves formed. We have employed wet chemi-
cal and plasma-assisted etching processes to achieve
sufficient control of the sidewall shape. The conformal
coating of the pillar with a thin dielectric layer is a par-
ticularly critical step. As mentioned before it is desirable
to have the dielectric layer as thin as possible and also
with a high refractive index to minimize the energy con-
tained in it. However, the dielectric layer also must be
sufficiently thick not to break down when a voltage is ap-
plied across the laser diode. It must not cause damage to
the semiconductor surfaces when it is deposited, and fi-
nally needs to afford protection to the semiconductor sur-
face during subsequent cleaning and deposition steps in
the device manufacture. The deposition of high-quality
conformal silver layers on the complex sidewall shape is
probably the last critical process that needs to be ad-
dressed.
Figure 7 shows our progress in addressing these issues.
The cross section of a waveguide with deposited silver
given in Fig. 7(b) shows that it is possible to physically
construct such structures. We have also completed pro-
cessing of a number of devices with electrical contacts.
Figure 7(c) shows a photo of the electro-luminescence
seen through the substrate of a device where the InGaAs
gain region is approximately 18 nm thick, the waveguide
waist is approximately 25 nm, and the waveguide is
20 ␮m long. The device was measured at 10 K. Increased
light output and band filling can be observed with in-
creased electrical pumping, which indicates that the
semiconductor gain medium is functioning. Furthermore
the stronger light emission at the waveguide ends indi-
cates that a significant amount of the light emitted is go-
ing into modes propagating along the waveguide [12].
However, we have yet to achieve lasing in these devices.
If these MIM devices are to be of use in actual systems
then they will likely have to be coupled to either conven-
tional dielectric or plasmonic passive waveguides. Fortu-
nately it has been shown in theory that indeed it is pos-
sible to couple plasmons in MIM waveguides with high
efficiency to photons propagating in conventional dielec-
tric waveguides [38]. Furthermore the conversion can be
performed in a compact device. Such conversion is an im-
portant point for the deployment of plasmonic nano-
lasers, as signals from the lasers will eventually need to
be transported over distances of at least several millime-
ters, and the best way to do this is with dielectric
waveguides or possibly waveguides supporting long-range
surface plasmons [4].
Another aspect is precise frequency control in such
waveguide lasers. By making the cavity small, as in the
VCSEL-like lasers mentioned before, there is only one
Fig. 7. (Color online) a. Actual fabricated semiconductor
InP / InGaAS semiconductor core. b. Cross section of a completed
waveguide that has been encapsulated in silver. The scale bars in
both a. and b.) are 100 nm. c. Emission through substrate of a
waveguide similar to b. with active region width of ⬃25 nm and
the waveguide 20 ␮m long.
Martin T. Hill
Fig. 8. (Color online) Semiconductor core of MIM waveguide
with modulated width used to form plasmonic DFB lasers as re-
ported in [41]. Scale bar is 100 nm.
lasing mode. With sufficiently accurate control on the cav-
ity dimensions, the wavelength can be precisely deter-
mined. However, for longer waveguide cavities there may
be many lasing modes. One approach used successfully to
precisely control the lasing wavelength has been the use
of Bragg gratings to form distributed feedback (DFB) or
distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers [39]. It has also
been reported that the Bragg grating concept is possible
to implement in MIM waveguide structures [40] by sim-
ply modulating the waveguide width. Such a concept can
be implemented easily in our realization of the MIM
waveguide concept by simply modulating the waveguide
width, which is defined in the lithography step. Indeed we
have successfully created DFB lasers that employ a gap-
plasmon mode in our technology; the results are reported
in [41]. In particular we can show single-mode lasing with
controlled wavelength in a 100␮m long MIM waveguide.
Figure 8 shows a fabricated semiconductor core for a MIM
waveguide designed for a DFB laser that has a 1 / 4 wave-
length phase shift in the center of the grating.
If such nano-lasers as we describe above can be made to
work at room or higher temperatures then they could be
applied as light sources for communications systems
based on light and plasmonics, which operate inside or be-
tween silicon chips [42]. Such devices will have significant
advantages such as low power and potentially high speed,
in particular, for all-optical modulation. For electrical
modulation there may be issues with the maximum speed
possible [26]. Such devices could serve as a basis for high-
speed, low-power, high-complexity, all-optical signal pro-
cessing systems that could outperform electronics in high-
speed applications.
5. CONCLUSION
The last couple of years have seen a dramatic reduction in
the size of the laser through the use of metallic resona-
tors. Probably the most exciting result has been the use of
dye gain media to demonstrate a laser that is an order of
magnitude smaller than the free space wavelength of the
light it emits in all three dimensions [16]. However, the
use of a dye gain medium has significant drawbacks with
regard to electrical pumping and device lifetimes. Such
dye-based devices may have some applications in sensing
or biology.
Vol. 27, No. 11 / November 2010 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. B B43
A large number of groups have also looked at using
semiconductor gain media. Semiconductors bring the im-
portant technological advantages of electrical pumping
and the possibility of long device lifetimes. In this article
we have looked broadly at two possible tracks for
semiconductor-based metallic/plasmonic nano-lasers.
First we have considered devices where the optical mode
is confined to regions that are typically about the size of
the diffraction limit in the material, or slightly larger.
These devices are already showing operation at high tem-
peratures and also with electrical pumping. In theory
there is a significant excess of optical gain possible from
the semiconductor, so that with correct design highly effi-
cient laser sources could be made. Furthermore, the size
is still small enough that many of the benefits of metallic
devices are available, such as high Purcell effect, good
heat sinking, and sub wavelength dimensions. It is pos-
sible that in a short time such devices will be used in
many current and new applications for lasers.
The use of metals allows the unique possibility of re-
ducing the laser and optical mode size far below the dif-
fraction limit. In theory, given current semiconductor gain
materials, it should be possible to overcome metal losses
in these extremely small devices, even at room tempera-
ture. At cryogenic temperatures the increased gain avail-
able from the semiconductor and the reduced metal losses
will allow many interesting first demonstrations. We have
looked at one particular example of these very small
structures, MIM waveguide devices. Having lasers that
operate within a wave guiding system is important as it
allows complex designs for the laser cavity, and a method
to employ and direct the light from the laser.
In summary if the challenges of electrical pumping,
high-temperature operation, and good device lifetime can
be met, then spasers and metallic or plasmonic nano la-
sers will be widely employed in diverse areas including in-
formation processing, communications, sensing, and pos-
sibly many other new applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Netherlands Organiza-
tion for Scientific Research (NWO)through the “NRC pho-
tonics” grant, and by the Dutch governmentthrough the
MEMPHIS grant.
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