The Zhejiang University team has achieved the world's first electrically driven perovskite laser using a microcavity LED.

On August 27, Professor David Di, Researcher Chen Zou, and Professor Baodan Zhao’s team from the School of Optical Engineering at Zhejiang University developed the world’s first electrically driven perovskite laser. The groundbreaking research was published in *Nature* under the title "Electrically driven lasing from a dual-cavity perovskite device." Chen Zou is the first author of the paper, with David Di, Chen Zou, and Baodan Zhao serving as the corresponding authors. Zhejiang University is the sole institution credited for this pioneering study.

The world's first electrically driven perovskite laser

The rapid advancement of cutting-edge technologies—such as facial recognition in smartphones, radar-based distance measurement in cars, and laser surgery in hospitals—would all be impossible without lasers. With their exceptional properties like high monochromaticity, excellent directivity, and highly concentrated energy, lasers have become one of the key technologies driving the growth of the optoelectronics and information industries.

Recently, the team led by David Di, Chen Zou, and Baodan Zhao has developed the world’s first electrically driven perovskite laser. This groundbreaking device is a "dual-cavity" laser featuring two integrated optical microcavities—combining a low-threshold perovskite single-crystal microcavity unit with a high-power perovskite LED microcavity unit within a single compact structure, arranged in a vertically stacked, multi-layer design. Remarkably, this novel semiconductor laser requires a minimum current (threshold current) of just 92 A/cm² to emit laser light—nearly an order of magnitude lower than even the best organic semiconductor lasers—while also demonstrating exceptional stability. Moreover, it achieves rapid modulation at a bandwidth of 36.2 MHz, making it a promising candidate for applications in on-chip data transmission, computing, and even biomedical fields.

Innovative Dual-Optical Microcavity Design

Lasers come in a wide variety of types, among which semiconductor lasers are a crucial light source in the field of information technology. However, their traditional manufacturing processes typically involve complex procedures and high costs. Currently, emerging laser materials such as perovskite semiconductors, organic semiconductors, and quantum dots are demonstrating remarkable advantages. These materials can be fabricated using solution-based methods, making them not only relatively inexpensive to process but also easier to integrate into silicon-based optoelectronic platforms that support large-scale, mass production. Among these materials, perovskite semiconductors stand out for their tunable emission spectra—allowing for the generation of a wide range of colors—and for achieving exceptionally low laser-threshold values under optical pumping conditions, positioning them with highly promising technological potential.

The external energy sources required to power laser operation primarily include two forms: electricity and light. Over the past decade, researchers worldwide have made a series of significant breakthroughs in the development of light-driven perovskite lasers. However, light-driven systems typically rely on bulky external light sources, such as pulsed lasers, which severely limit the practical applications of these devices. As a result, developing electrically driven perovskite lasers has remained one of the biggest challenges in the field of perovskite optoelectronics—and it continues to be a shared goal pursued by numerous research teams around the globe.

"To achieve electrically driven laser emission, we’ve developed an integrated dual-cavity structure. Our approach involves compactly integrating a high-power microcavity perovskite LED subunit with a high-quality single-crystal perovskite microcavity subunit into a single device," explained David Di. This device efficiently couples the abundant photons generated by the microcavity perovskite LED under electrical excitation into the second microcavity, where they in turn stimulate the single-crystal perovskite gain medium to produce laser light."

Electrically Driven Perovskite Laser Structure

"Although the principle behind integrated electrically driven lasers isn’t inherently complex, we still faced numerous challenges when we began working on fabricating the laser itself," said Zou Chen. The team had no prior experience in preparing top-emitting microcavity devices—everything had to start from scratch. From optimizing the device structure and fine-tuning the fabrication process to setting up and validating the testing system, each step required repeated trial and error, moving forward incrementally. But as these obstacles were finally overcome one by one, the team members experienced an indescribable sense of joy and excitement when they observed, for the first time under electrical excitation, the long-awaited laser spectrum.

High-efficiency, energy-saving, and high-speed modulation

This integrated laser features two optically coupled microcavities that enable highly efficient coupling, achieving a coupling efficiency of up to 82.7%. Under electrical pulsing, the perovskite LED subunit within the microcavities generates a peak radiation power density of approximately 2.5 × 10⁴ mW/cm²—equivalent to an exceptionally high radiance of about 2.0 × 10⁵ W/sr/m². This intense optical power is efficiently transferred into the single-crystal perovskite microcavity, enabling sustained laser emission.

Performance of Electrically Driven Perovskite Lasers

"This new type of semiconductor laser has already demonstrated significant technological potential," David Di introduced. Under electrical excitation, the perovskite laser achieved a laser threshold of 92 A/cm²—nearly an order of magnitude lower than even the best electrically driven organic lasers. Moreover, the electrically powered perovskite laser exhibited far superior repeatability and stability compared to its organic counterparts, enabling rapid modulation at a bandwidth of 36.2 MHz.

The electrically driven perovskite laser can be used in a variety of applications, such as optical data transmission, and also serves as a coherent light source in integrated photonic chips and wearable devices. The team discovered that this device can achieve rapid modulation via electrical pulses at a bandwidth of 36.2 MHz. This impressive modulation speed was made possible by reducing the effective area of the device to minimize its resistance-capacitance (RC) time constant, as well as by leveraging a silicon substrate to enhance heat dissipation. "In the future," said Zhao Baodan, "we’ll need to overcome the nanosecond-level spontaneous emission lifetime limitation inherent in microcavity perovskite LED subunits, enabling the device to operate at GHz-level high speeds."

"Transitioning from the current 'integrated pump' architecture to a more streamlined laser diode structure will be the key focus of our next research effort, as this approach paves the way for more compact and scalable optoelectronic applications," said David Di. As the team moves forward with bringing this innovative semiconductor laser technology into practical use, they are fully prepared to tackle the next set of significant challenges ahead. (Source: Zhejiang University)