Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Single-nanowire electrically driven lasers

Single-nanowire electrically driven lasers Electrically driven semiconductor lasers are used in technologies ranging from telecommunications and information storage to medical diagnostics and therapeutics 1 . The success of this class of lasers is due in part to well-developed planar semiconductor growth and processing, which enables reproducible fabrication of integrated, electrically driven devices 2,3 . Yet this approach to device fabrication is also costly and difficult to integrate directly with other technologies such as silicon microelectronics. To overcome these issues for future applications, there has been considerable interest in using organic molecules 4,5 , polymers 6,7 , and inorganic nanostructures 8,9,10 for lasers, because these materials can be fashioned into devices by chemical processing. Indeed, amplified stimulated emission and lasing have been reported for optically pumped organic systems 4,5,6,7 and, more recently, inorganic nanocrystals 8,9 and nanowires 10 . However, electrically driven lasing, which is required in most applications, has met with several difficulties in organic systems 11 , and has not been addressed for assembled nanocrystals or nanowires. Here we investigate the feasibility of achieving electrically driven lasing from individual nanowires. Optical and electrical measurements made on single-crystal cadmium sulphide nanowires show that these structures can function as Fabry–Perot optical cavities with mode spacing inversely related to the nanowire length. Investigations of optical and electrical pumping further indicate a threshold for lasing as characterized by optical modes with instrument-limited linewidths. Electrically driven nanowire lasers, which might be assembled in arrays capable of emitting a wide range of colours, could improve existing applications and suggest new opportunities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nature Springer Journals

Single-nanowire electrically driven lasers

Duan, Xiangfeng; Huang, Yu; Agarwal, Ritesh; Lieber, Charles M.
Nature , Volume 421 (6920) – Jan 16, 2003
Download PDF
5 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/single-nanowire-electrically-driven-lasers-CreD9GRSp3

References (49)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by Macmillan Magazines Ltd.
Subject
Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, multidisciplinary
ISSN
0028-0836
eISSN
1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/nature01353
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Electrically driven semiconductor lasers are used in technologies ranging from telecommunications and information storage to medical diagnostics and therapeutics 1 . The success of this class of lasers is due in part to well-developed planar semiconductor growth and processing, which enables reproducible fabrication of integrated, electrically driven devices 2,3 . Yet this approach to device fabrication is also costly and difficult to integrate directly with other technologies such as silicon microelectronics. To overcome these issues for future applications, there has been considerable interest in using organic molecules 4,5 , polymers 6,7 , and inorganic nanostructures 8,9,10 for lasers, because these materials can be fashioned into devices by chemical processing. Indeed, amplified stimulated emission and lasing have been reported for optically pumped organic systems 4,5,6,7 and, more recently, inorganic nanocrystals 8,9 and nanowires 10 . However, electrically driven lasing, which is required in most applications, has met with several difficulties in organic systems 11 , and has not been addressed for assembled nanocrystals or nanowires. Here we investigate the feasibility of achieving electrically driven lasing from individual nanowires. Optical and electrical measurements made on single-crystal cadmium sulphide nanowires show that these structures can function as Fabry–Perot optical cavities with mode spacing inversely related to the nanowire length. Investigations of optical and electrical pumping further indicate a threshold for lasing as characterized by optical modes with instrument-limited linewidths. Electrically driven nanowire lasers, which might be assembled in arrays capable of emitting a wide range of colours, could improve existing applications and suggest new opportunities.

Journal

Nature – Springer Journals

Published: Jan 16, 2003

There are no references for this article.