Wavelength tunable single nanowire lasers based on surface plasmon polariton enhanced Burstein-Moss effect

Wavelength tunable semiconductor nanowire (NW) lasers are promising for multifunctional applications ranging from optical communication to spectroscopy analysis. Here, we present a demonstration of utilizing the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) enhanced Burstein-Moss (BM) effect to tune the lasing wavelength of a single semiconductor NW. The photonic lasing mode of the CdS NW (with length ∼10 μm and diameter ∼220 nm) significantly blue shifts from 504 to 483 nm at room temperature when the NW is in close proximity to the Au film. Systematic steady state power dependent photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL studies validate that the BM effect in the hybrid CdS NW devices is greatly enhanced as a consequence of the strong coupling between the SPP and CdS excitons. With decreasing dielectric layer thickness h from 100 to 5 nm, the enhancement of the BM effect becomes stronger, leading to a larger blue shift of the lasing wavelength. Measurements of enhanced exciton emission intensities and recombination rates in the presence of Au film further support the strong interaction between SPP and excitons, which is consistent with the simulation results.