Abstract.
A one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor photonic crystal (PC) structure with a terminal metal nanofilm, supporting propagation of long-range surface plasmons (LRSPs), is considered as an LRSP amplifier with current pumping.
Current is injected to an active region through the metal nanofilm from one side and doped semiconductor layers from the other side.
The propagation length of LRSP waves in such 1D PC structures reaches several millimeters, and therefore, a gain as low as 10 1/cm is enough to compensate for attenuation and amplify LRSPs.
A unique advantage of this structure is that the refractive index of LRSP wave is very close to unity.
As a result, no return reflection to semiconductor occurs during the edge-emission of LRSP to air, and this enhances the light extraction efficiency from semiconductor light sources such as edge-emitting superluminescent diodes and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Optical feedback may be incorporated in this LRSP amplifier by grating deposition on the external side of the metal nanofilm and LRSP lasing (i.e., long-range SPASER) may be realized without the use of complicated ``etch-and-regrow" processes.
Fig.1 Schematics of the LRSP-based superluminescence LEDs: (a) edge-emitting and (b) surface-emitting and schematics of the LRSP-based laser diodes: (c) edge-emitting and (d) surface-emitting.
Fig.2 Distribution of the LRSP field components in the final layers of the PC bordering with air.
Fig.3 Dispersion of the 1D PC structure with the terminal gold nanolayer in air. A point where ultra-LRSP propagation occurs is designated as a white pentagram at the intersection of the lines representing \lambda=690nm and \rho=1.0004. The LRSP mode is seen as a dark curve (with an enhancement much more than 10^2), which is located within the band gap (in whitish areas with an enhancement less than 1).
Table 1 Parameters of PC-based structure supporting ultra-LRSP propagation and emission at \lambda=690nm.
Distribution of the magnetic field in the final layers of the PC bordering with air. This is an illustration for Reviewer1 (see Response123.pdf for details). Response123.pdf contains an answer for a request of Reviewer1. The manuscript was accepted immediately after the second round of review, and I afraid that Reviewer1 did not obtain my response from a topical Editor, so I place it here.
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- Звучит неплохо, - согласился Торн. - Просто и эффективно.
- Надеюсь, - вздохнул Майлз. - Ну почему бы для разнообразия
хотя бы
этой операции не пройти по плану?
(с)Л.М.Буджолд, "Границы бесконечности"