Hybridized Semiconductor Nanowire Lasers for Integrated Circuits

Semiconductor nanowires are of major interest as a serving material platform, since they not only offer superior photonic properties, such as being an intrinsic nano-sized lasing system, but can also bridge the interface to electronic circuits. However, their integration into any on-chip integrated circuit requires direct contact of the semiconductor nanowires with any other material affecting their optical and lasing properties. We will focus in this presentation on such effects of lasing ZnO nanowires by hybridizing them with metals, 2D materials, and dye molecules. Coupling such nanowires with e.g. plasmonic structures results in higher losses and lasing thresholds, but significantly accelerates the dynamics and confines the light field even into much smaller structures. On the other hand, hybridizing them with atomically 2D materials or dye molecules can significantly change the gain envelope, likely due to charge and carrier transfer processes between the materials. This results in the possibility of suitable tailoring to the design requirements of on-chip applications.