Continous-wave lasing operation of 1.3-μm wavelength InP-based photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers using MOVPE regrowth.

Abstract

We report on electrically driven InP-based photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs), which possess a deep-air-hole photonic crystal (PC) structure underneath an active region formed by metal-organic vapor-phase-epitaxial (MOVPE) regrowth. Single-mode continuous-wave (CW) lasing operation in 1.3-μm wavelength is successfully achieved at a temperature of 15°C. It is shown that the enhancement of lateral growth during the MOVPE regrowth process of air holes enables the formation of deep air holes with an atomically flat and thin overlayer, whose thickness is less than 100 nm. A threshold current of 120 mA (threshold current density = 0.68 kA/cm2) is obtained in a device with a diameter of 150 μm. A doughnut-like far-field pattern with the narrow beam divergence of less than 1° is observed. Strong optical confinement in the PC structure is revealed from measurements of the photonic band structure, and this strong optical confinement leads to the single-mode CW lasing operation with a low threshold current density.