Electrically reconfigurable extended lasing state in an organic liquid-crystal microcavity

Abstract

Abstract Small-footprint, low-power, and reprogrammable arrays of coupled coherent emitters are highly sought in modern nanophotonics. Among existing solutions, only inorganic semiconductor microcavities operating in a strong light-matter coupling regime exhibit controlled on-chip interaction between individual coherent states, predominantly at cryogenic temperatures. Here, we demonstrate electrically controlled in-plane interaction between optically reconfigurable spatially separated lasing states, operating at room temperature in the weak light-matter coupling regime. An organic liquid crystal-filled microcavity is introduced as a new material platform where a spatially extended coherent lasing state, or “supermode", appears due to the blueshift-induced near-field transverse coupling between distinct spatially pumped states. We demonstrate a wide-range microscale control of supermode near- and far-field with on-chip phase-locking tuning functionality. We realize electrical control over the interaction strength between lasing states and corresponding mutual coherence going beyond nearest neighbours, and a spin-selective directional coupling regime by using a photonic analogue of the Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction.