Collective Effects in Nanolasers Explained by Generalized Rate Equations

Abstract

We study the stationary photon output and statistics of small lasers. Our closed-form expressions clarify the contribution of collective effects due to the interaction between quantum emitters. We generalize laser rate equations and explain photon trapping: a decrease of the photon number output below the lasing threshold, derive an expression for the stationary cavity mode autocorrelation function $g_2$, which implies that collective effects may strongly influence the photon statistics. We identify conditions for coherent, thermal and superthermal radiation, the latter being a unique fingerprint for collective emission in lasers. These generic analytical results agree with recent experiments, complement numerical results, and provide insight into and design rules for nanolasers.

5 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary materials 4 pages

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Superthermal photon bunching in terms of simple probability distributions
• Quantum Langevin approach for superradiant nanolasers
• "Phase Transitions" in small systems: why standard threshold definitions fail for nanolasers