A Single-Fundamental-Mode Photonic Crystal Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser

Abstract

Single-fundamental-mode photonic crystal (PhC) vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) are produced and their single-fundamental-mode performances are investigated and demonstrated. A two-dimensional PhC with single-point-defect structure is fabricated using UV photolithography and inductive coupled plasma reactive ion etching on the surface of the VCSEL's top distributed Bragg-reflector. The PhC VCSEL maintains single-fundamental-mode operating with output power 1.7 mW and threshold current 2.5mA. The full width half maximum of the lasing spectrum is less than 0.1 nm, the far field divergence angle is less than 10° and the side mode suppression ratio is over 35 dB. The device characteristics are analyzed based on the effective index model of the photonic crystal fiber. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical expectation.