Quantum cascade laser integrated with metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic antenna

Dibyendu Dey; Ryan M. Gelfand; John Kohoutek; Alireza Bonakdar; Hooman Mohseni

doi:10.1117/12.861451

16 August 2010 Quantum cascade laser integrated with metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic antenna

Dibyendu Dey, Ryan M. Gelfand, John Kohoutek, Alireza Bonakdar, Hooman Mohseni

Proceedings Volume 7789, Laser Beam Shaping XI; 77890L (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.861451
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

In the near field region, optical antennas can generate local hot spots with high energy density. It can be very useful in increasing the photon-matter interactions for bio-sensing applications. There are several important bio-molecules having signature frequency (vibrational resonance) matching the mid infrared region of the optical spectrum. Thus mid-infrared antenna integrated with Quantum cascade laser (QCL) is highly desirable as it is currently considered to be one of the most efficient mid-infrared laser sources with a huge gamut of commercial applications. Here, we present a novel metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) based plasmonic nanorod antenna integrated on the facet of a room temperature working Quantum Cascade Laser. Simulations showed that at an optimized SiO₂ thickness of 20nm, the antenna can generate a local electric field with intensity 500 times higher than the incident field intensity. Further, it can increase the number of regions with local hot spots due to a higher number of geometrical singularities or sharp edges present in the MDM structure. This feature can be extremely useful, especially for bio-sensing applications. All device structures have been optimized based on 3d finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) numerical simulations. The antenna was fabricated on the facet of QCL using focused ion beam (FIB). The integrated plasmonic QCL has been measured using an apertureless mid-infrared near field scanning optical microscopy (a-NSOM). The measurement set-up is based on an inverted microscope coupled with a commercially available Atomic Forced Microscopy (AFM). We have experimentally found that such integrated nano antenna can generate a very narrow optical spot size, much below the diffraction limit, with high power density that matches well with the simulation results.

Citation Download Citation

Dibyendu Dey, Ryan M. Gelfand, John Kohoutek, Alireza Bonakdar, and Hooman Mohseni "Quantum cascade laser integrated with metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic antenna", Proc. SPIE 7789, Laser Beam Shaping XI, 77890L (16 August 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.861451

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