Ultrafast and quantum dynamics of plasmonic nanolasing and surface-plasmon polariton condensation (Conference Presentation)

Nanoplasmonic stopped-light lasing is a recently established principle [1] that not only opens the door to ultrafast cavity-free nanolasing, ultra-thin lasing sufaces exploiting van Hove singularities [2] and cavity-free quantum-electrodynamics but also provides an entry point to quantum gain in quantum plasmonics. We show that engineered singularities in the density of optical states realised in a metal-dielectric-metal nano-waveguide structure lead to a stopped-light feedback mechanism that is the basis for the dynamics of the observed cavity-free photonic and surface-plasmon polariton nanolasing. The condensed surface plasmon polaritons are characterised by ultrafast spatio-temporally oscillating amplified surface-plasmon polaritons on ultrafast timescales <5 femtoseconds and with spatial periods on the nanoscale <100 nm. [1] T. Pickering, J. M. Hamm, A. F. Page. S. Wuestner and O. Hess, “Cavity-free plasmonic nanolasing enabled by dispersionless stopped light”, Nature Communications 5, 4972 (2014). [2] J. M. Hamm and O. Hess, “Two Two-Dimensional Materials Are Better Than One”, Science 340, 1298 (2014) [3] S. Wuestner, T. Pickering, J. M. Hamm, A. F. Page, A. Pusch and O. Hess, “Ultrafast dynamics of nanoplasmonic stopped-light lasing”, Faraday Discuss., 178, 397 (2015).