Miniaturized light sources are critical for next-generation on-chip photonic devices. Plasmon-based
lasers and surface plasmon amplified spontaneous emission of radiation (spasers) have received
significant attention since their prediction over a decay over a decade ago. Major advances have
included subwavelength footprint sizes, room-temperature operation, far-field emission
directionality, and understanding of the lasing mechanism. Notably, one simple architectural design
for the plasmonic lasing cavity—nanoparticle lattices—has emerged as a powerful platform to
achieve exquisite control over the coherent light. This talk will describe a nanolaser design based on
colloidal CdSe-CdS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) conformally coated on two-dimensional arrays of
Ag nanoparticles. These QD-plasmon lasers can show directional emission by exploiting high
symmetry points in the lattices and tailorable polarization patterns depending on the QD film
thickness. We will discuss prospects for achieving any desired lasing emission angle from these
room-temperature hybrid nanolasers.