Quantum noise in semiconductor nanolasers

As lasers shrink, intrinsic quantum noise becomes increasingly significant and may hinder their use in ultra-low-energy optical interconnects. This talk presents recent advances in understanding quantum noise in semiconductor nanolasers and methods to suppress it via amplitude squeezing. We demonstrate that a simple stochastic model bridges the gap between few-emitter cavity-QED lasers - where quantum master equations are feasible to solve - and macroscopic lasers described by Langevin theory. Neither the full quantum nor Langevin approaches can address the intermediate mesoscopic regime, which the stochastic model captures well. We also explore noise reduction via “quiet” current pumping. Here, novel laser designs with deep sub-wavelength light confinement—Extreme Dielectric Confinement (EDC) - offer a promising route to suppress intensity noise below the shot-noise limit over a bandwidth of several gigahertz.