Exploring the Photon-Number Distribution of Bimodal Microlasers with a Transition Edge Sensor

Year: 2018

Authors: Schlottmann E., von Helversen M., Leymann HAM., Lettau T., Kr’ger F., Schmidt M., Schneider C., Kamp M., Htzfling S., Beyer J., Wiersig J., Reitzenstein S.

Autors Affiliation: Tech Univ Berlin, Inst Festkorperphys, Quantum Devices Grp, Hardenbergstr 36,EW 5-3, D-10623 Berlin, Germany; Max Planck Inst Phys Komplexer Syst, Nothrzitzer Str 38, D-01187 Dresden, Germany; Otto von Guericke Univ, Inst Theoret Phys, Univ Pl 2, D-39106 Magdeburg, Germany; Phys Tech Bundesanstalt, Abbestr 2-12, D-10587 Berlin, Germany; Univ Wurzburg, Tech Phys, D-97074 Wurzburg, Germany; Univ St Andrews, Sch Phys & Astron, SUPA, St Andrews KY16 9SS, Fife, Scotland; Univ Trento, INO CNR BEC Ctr, I-38123 Povo, Italy; Univ Trento, Dipartimento Fis, I-38123 Povo, Italy.

Abstract: A photon-number-resolving transition edge sensor (TES) is used to measure the photon-number distribution of two microcavity lasers. The investigated devices are bimodal microlasers with similar emission intensity and photon statistics with respect to the photon autocorrelation. Both high-beta microlasers show partly thermal and partly coherent emission around the lasing threshold. For higher pump powers, the strong mode of microlaser A emits Poissonian distributed photons, while the emission of the weak mode is thermal. By contrast, laser B shows a bistability resulting in overlayed thermal and Poissonian distributions. While a standard Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment cannot distinguish between the simple thermal emission of laser A and the temporal mode switching of the bistable laser B, TESs allow us to measure the photon-number distribution, which provides important insight into the underlying emission processes. Indeed, our experimental data and their theoretical description by a master equation approach show that TESs are capable of revealing subtle effects like the mode switching of bimodal microlasers. As such, we clearly demonstrate the benefit and importance of investigating nanophotonic devices via photon-number-resolving transition edge sensors.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW APPLIED

Volume: 9 (6)      Pages from: 64030-1  to: 64030-8

More Information: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework ERC Grant Agreement No. 615613, within the EURAMET joint research project MIQC2 from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and the EMPIR Participating States, and from the German Research Foundation under Projects No. RE2974/10-1 and No. Ka 2318/7-1. The authors thank the State of Bavaria for the financial support and A. E. Lita and S. W. Nam for providing the TES detector chips.
KeyWords: ring laser; fluorescence; microcavity; nanolasers; statistics
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.064030

Citations: 35
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