Journal article · Preprint article
Fundamental Limitations to Gain Enhancement in Periodic Media and Waveguides
Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark1
Structured Electromagnetic Materials, Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark3
Solid Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark4
Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark5
Theory Section, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark6
Quantum and Laser Photonics, Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark7
Center for Nanostructured Graphene, Centers, Technical University of Denmark8
A common strategy to compensate for losses in optical nanostructures is to add gain material in the system. By exploiting slow-light effects it is expected that the gain may be enhanced beyond its bulk value. Here we show that this route cannot be followed uncritically: inclusion of gain inevitably modifies the underlying dispersion law, and thereby may degrade the slow-light properties underlying the device operation and the anticipated gain enhancement itself.
This degradation is generic; we demonstrate it for three different systems of current interest (coupled-resonator optical waveguides, Bragg stacks, and photonic crystal waveguides). Nevertheless, a small amount of added gain may be beneficial.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | American Physical Society (APS) |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Pages: | 183903 |
| ISSN: | 10797114 and 00319007 |
| Types: | Journal article and Preprint article |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.183903 |
| ORCIDs: | Wang, Fengwen , Sigmund, Ole , Jauho, Antti-Pekka , Mørk, Jesper and Mortensen, N. Asger |
