Plasmon enhancement for Vernier coupled single-mode lasing from ZnO/Pt hybrid microcavities

It is essential to develop a single mode operation and improve the performance of lasing in order to ensure practical applicability of microlasers and nanolasers. In this paper, two hexagonal microteeth with varied nanoscaled air-gaps of a ZnO microcomb are used to construct coupled whispering-gallery cavities. This is done to achieve a stable single mode lasing based on Vernier effect without requiring any complicated or sophisticated manipulation to achieve positioning with nanoscale precision. Optical gain and the corresponding ultraviolet lasing performance were improved greatly through coupling with localized surface plasmons of Pt nanoparticles. The ZnO/Pt hybrid microcavities achieved a seven-fold enhancement of intensity of single mode lasing with higher side- mode suppression ratio and lower threshold. The mechanism that led to this enhancement has been described in detail.