Single-mode laser by parity-time symmetry breaking. uri icon

abstract

  • Effective manipulation of cavity resonant modes is crucial for emission control in laser physics and applications. Using the concept of parity-time symmetry to exploit the interplay between gain and loss (i.e., light amplification and absorption), we demonstrate a parity-time symmetry-breaking laser with resonant modes that can be controlled at will. In contrast to conventional ring cavity lasers with multiple competing modes, our parity-time microring laser exhibits intrinsic single-mode lasing regardless of the gain spectral bandwidth. Thresholdless parity-time symmetry breaking due to the rotationally symmetric structure leads to stable single-mode operation with the selective whispering-gallery mode order. Exploration of parity-time symmetry in laser physics may open a door to next-generation optoelectronic devices for optical communications and computing.

published proceedings

  • Science

altmetric score

  • 76.75

author list (cited authors)

  • Feng, L., Wong, Z. J., Ma, R., Wang, Y., & Zhang, X.

citation count

  • 1023

complete list of authors

  • Feng, Liang||Wong, Zi Jing||Ma, Ren-Min||Wang, Yuan||Zhang, Xiang

publication date

  • November 2014