Ultrahigh-Q metallic nanocavity resonances with externally-amplified intracavity feedback

We propose a mechanism of ultrahigh-Q metallic nanocavity resonances that involves an efficient loss-compensation scheme favorable for room-temperature operation. We theoretically show that surface plasmon-polaritons excited on the entrance and exit interfaces of a metallic nanocavity array efficiently transfer external optical gain to the cavity modes by inducing resonantly-amplified intracavity feedback. Surprisingly, the modal gain in the nanocavity with the externally amplified feedback is inversely proportional to the cavity length as opposed to conventional optical cavity amplifiers requiring longer cavities for higher optical gain. Utilizing this effect, we numerically demonstrate room-temperature nanocavity resonance Q-factor exceeding 104 in a 25-nm-wide silver nanoslit array. The proposed mechanism provides a highly efficient plasmonic amplification process particularly for subwavelength plasmonic cavities which are essential components in active nanoplasmonic devices.