title: Unidirectional Lasing from Template-Stripped Two-Dimensional Plasmonic Crystals.
abstract: Plasmon lasers support cavity structures with sizes below that of the diffraction limit. However, most plasmon-based lasers show bidirectional lasing emission or emission with limited far-field directionality and large radiative losses. Here, we report unidirectional lasing from ultrasmooth, template-stripped two-dimensional (2D) plasmonic crystals. Optically pumped 2D plasmonic crystals (Au or Ag) surrounded by dye molecules exhibited lasing in a single emission direction and their lasing wavelength could be tuned by modulating the dielectric environment. We found that 2D plasmonic crystals were an ideal architecture to screen how nanocavity unit-cell structure, metal material, and gain media affected the lasing response. We discovered that template-stripped strong plasmonic materials with cylindrical posts were an optimal cavity design for a unidirectional laser operating at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Ankun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Zhongyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Knudson
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hryn
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Applied Physics, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Weijia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Koray
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.|Graduate Program in Applied Physics, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.|Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Teri W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Odom
keywords: plasmon nanolaser; plasmonic crystals; spaser; template stripping; unidirectional emission; wavelength tunability