Room-temperature active modulation of plasmonic nanolasers by current injection on hybrid graphene–insulator–metal platforms

The room-temperature active modulation of plasmonic nanolasers is demonstrated on the hybrid graphene–insulator–metal (GIM) platform. The threshold and lasing intensity of ZnO plasmonic nanolasers are modulated by injecting the current into the graphene layer in order to break the Lorentz reciprocity in the plasmonic cavity. The laser threshold increases with the external current injection, and a 0.17-nm Doppler shift is observed with 120-mA external current injection. The theoretical model is constructed that takes both the nonreciprocal effect and thermal effect induced by the current injection into consideration. The nanolaser operated at room temperature and with the functionality of threshold modulation on the GIM platform shall be very promising in the development of integrated photonic circuits.