Low threshold organic and quantum dot nanobeam lasers

Abstract

Lasers in the visible spectrum have many applications including sensing, medical, and entertainment applications. Traditional semiconductors face challenges that limit their ability to create lasers for the visible spectrum. Organic materials and quantum (lots are an attractive alternative for visible lasers due to their broad, tunable emission and deposition using fabrication techniques of low complexity. These materials have been used to demonstrate low lasing thresholds, and we hope to improve upon them with a novel design, paving the way towards electrically pumped and continuous wave operation lasing. In this thesis we couple the use of organic materials and quantum dots with one dimensional nanobeam photonic crystal cavities to design lasers for the visible spectrum. We cover the theory behind generation of optical gain and lasing as well as the theory of photonic crystals. We outline a strategy for designing laser cavities using the chosen gain materials. Finally, we demonstrate a low lasing threshold of 4.2 [mu]J/cm2 for our organic lasers.