Recent Progress and Perspective in Plasmonic Semiconductor Nanolasers

Speaker: Prof. Cun-Zheng Ning (ASU)

Time and Date: 10:00- , Oct. 23, 2013

Place: Room B415, Building of Computing Centre, Handan Campus

Abstract

In this talk, we will start with a brief overview of short history and a background introduction to the plasmon-photon interactions, showing how such interactions might lead to a nanolaser of arbitrarily small size. Recent progress in theoretical understanding and experimental demonstration will then be presented systematically, including the first subdiffraction-limit laser and first CW room-temperature sub-wavelength lasers demonstrated by the speaker’s group. Special emphasize will be on the unique features of such nanolasers that distinguish them from the conventional lasers of pure dielectric cavities. The presentation will be concluded with a future perspective in nanolasers.

Biography

Professor Ning received his PhD in Physics from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He has published over 170 papers including many in high impact journals, and given over 130 invited, plenary, or colloquium talks worldwide. He was a senior scientist, Nanophotonics Group leader, and Nanotechnology Task manager at NASA Ames Research Center from 1997 to 2007, and an ISSP Visiting Professor at University of Tokyo in 2006. He was winner of several awards including NASA and NASA contractor Achievement Awards, NASA Space Act Patent Awards, CSC Technical Excellence Award, and IEEE/Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer from 2007-2009. He has made several pioneering theoretical and experimental contributions in laser physics, nonlinear sciences, and nanophotonics. Many of his recent achievements are highlighted in Science, Nature Photonics, and many other technology magazines worldwide. Current interests of his Nanophotonics Group at ASU include nanolasers, on-chip plasmonic sources, nanowire based detectors and solar cells, involving modelling, growth, fabrication, and characterization. Further information about his group can be found at http://nanophotonics.asu.edu.