Multi-level multi-thermal-electron FDTD simulation of plasmonic interaction with semiconducting gain media: applications to plasmonic amplifiers and nano-lasers.

Interactions between a semiconducting gain medium and confined plasmon-polaritons are studied using a multilevel multi-thermal-electron finite-difference time-domain (MLMTE-FDTD) simulator. We investigated the amplification of wave propagating in a plasmonic metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) waveguide filled with semiconductor gain medium and obtained the conditions required to achieve net optical gain. The MSM gain waveguide is used to form a plasmonic semiconductor nano-ring laser(PSNRL) with an effective mode volume of 0.0071 mu m3, which is about an order of magnitude smaller than the smallest demonstrated integrated photonic crystal based laser cavities. The simulation shows a lasing threshold current density of 1kA/cm2 for a 300nm outer diameter ring cavity with 80nm-wide ring. This current density can be realistically achieved in typical III-V semiconductor, which shows the experimental feasibility of the proposed PSNRL structure. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America