传统半导体激光器由于采用光学系统反馈而存在衍射极限，其腔长至少是其发射波长的一半，因此难以实现微小化。基于表面等离子体激元的纳米激光器可以实现深亚波长乃至纳米尺度的激光发射，而且现代微纳加工技术的逐步成熟，也为亚波长乃至纳米量级激光器的研制提供了成熟的技术条件。本文重点综述了国际上已成功实验验证的基于表面等离子体激元的纳米激光器的最新研究进展，综述了表面等离子体激元的基本原理，给出了若干种表面等离子体激元纳米激光器的结构和特点，指出该类激光器现存问题主要表现在激元损耗高及由此引起的制备工艺和电泵浦涉及的技术难题。文中最后展望了纳米激光器的应用和研究前景。

Conventional semiconductor lasers suffer from the scale of the diffraction limit due to the light to be confined by the optical feedback systems. Therefore, the scales of the lasers cannot be miniaturized because their cavities cannot be less than the half of the lasing wavelength. However, lasers based on the Surface Plasmon Polaritons(SPPs) can operate at a deep sub-wavelength, even nanometer scale. Moreover, the development of modern nanofabrication techniques provides the fabrication conditions for micro- or even nanometer scale lasers. This paper reviews the progress in nano-lasers based on SPPs that have been demonstrated recently. It describes the basic principles of the SPPs and gives structures and characteristics for several kinds of nanometer scale lasers. Then, it points out that the major defects of the nanometer scale lasers currently are focused on higher polariton losses and the difficulties in fabrication and electronic pumping technologies mentioned above. Finally, the paper considers the research and application prospects of the nanometer scale lasers based on the SPPs.