Robust lasing modes in coupled colloidal quantum dot microdisk pairs using a non-Hermitian exceptional point

Abstract

Evanescently coupled pairs of microdisk lasers have emerged as a useful platform for studying the non-Hermitian physics of exceptional points. It remains an open question how scalable and versatile such phenomena can be when carried over to other designs. Here we have studied the effect of gain/loss modulation in an evanescently coupled pair of microdisk optical resonators fabricated from solution-processed colloidal quantum dots. The emission spectra of these structures are sensitive to small imperfections, which cause frequency-splitting of the whispering gallery modes. Despite this inherent disorder, we found that when spatially modulating the optical pump to vary the gain differential between the coupled microdisks, the coupling drives the split parasitic intra-cavity modes into coalescence at an exceptional point of the resulting three-mode system. This unusual behavior is rationalized via a Hamiltonian that incorporates the intra-cavity coupling as well as the anisotropic inter-cavity coupling between modes in the microdisk pair.

Pairs of microdisk lasers are one of the most common systems for studying optical PT-symmetry. Here, Lafalce, Zeng et al. study the influence of fabrication imperfections in a disk pair made from colloidal quantum dots and show that the resulting three modes also coalesce at an exceptional point.