Plasmonically enhanced lasing by different size silver nanoparticles-silver film hybrid structure

We reported on the enhanced lasing in organic dyes based on plasmonic hybrid structure of Ag nanoparticles (NPs)-Ag film, the diameters of Ag NPs ranged from 20 nm to 100 nm. The lowest lasing threshold was achieved by the optimal size Ag NPs-Ag film hybrid structure, which was reduced by 5.2 times than that of the neat gain medium. Comparing to the separate Ag NPs or Ag film, the hybrid structure presented the more intense local electric field due to the plasmonics coupling between the localized surface plasmons of Ag NPs and the surface plasmon polariton of Ag film, and the stronger scattering due to the reinjection of the leaking photons by external feedback of Ag film. The effects of different sizes Ag NPs-Ag film hybrid structures on lasing were investigated. It found that when the Ag NPs in hybrid structure is small (diameter≤40 nm), the enhanced localized electric field plays a major role on enhanced lasing; with the increase of Ag NPs size, the enhanced electric field and scattering have comparable contribution on enhancing lasing; for the larger size Ag NPs-Ag film (diameter≥80 nm), the scattering effect is the dominant mechanism for random lasing. Then the lowest threshold was dominated by the balance of enhanced localized electric field and scattering effect. Our results could provide us a unique idea to effectively enhance the lasing of organic dyes, and realize the lower pumped threshold and stronger lasing.