Sensitivity and spectral control of network lasers
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Author(s)
Sapienza, Riccardo
Barahona, Mauricio
Saxena, Dhruv
alexis, arnaudon
Yaliraki, sophia
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Recently, random lasing in complex networks has shown efficient lasing over more than 50 localised modes, promoted by multiple scattering over the underlying graph. If controlled, these network lasers can lead to fast-switching multifunctional light sources with synthesised spectrum. Here, we observe both in experiment and theory high sensitivity of the network laser spectrum to the spatial shape of the pump profile, with some modes for example increasing in intensity by 280% when switching off 7% of the pump beam. We solve the nonlinear equations within the steady state ab-initio laser theory (SALT) approximation over a graph and we show selective lasing of around 90% of the strongest intensity modes, effectively programming the spectrum of the lasing networks. In our experiments with polymer networks, this high sensitivity enables control of the lasing spectrum through non-uniform pump patterns. We propose the underlying complexity of the network modes as the key element behind efficient spectral control opening the way for the development of optical devices with wide impact for on-chip photonics for communication, sensing, and computation.
Date Issued
2022-10-30
Date Acceptance
2022-10-13
Citation
Nature Communications, 2022, 13 (6493), pp.1-7
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Research
Start Page
1
End Page
7
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
13
Issue
6493
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
European Research Council
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34073-3
Grant Number
800410
EP/T027258/1
EP/N014529/1
800410 — EPNRL — H2020-MSCA-IF-2017
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-10-30