Micro-fluidic photonic crystal vertical cavity surface emitting laser

Abstract

The first monolithic micro-fluidic photonic crystal vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), wherein the horizontal and vertical micro-fluidic channels lie within the VCSEL, is reported. The micro-fluidic photonic crystal VCSEL is created with two principal steps after fabrication of the VCSEL. The first step is integrating the two-dimensional photonic crystal with the VCSEL structure. The photonic crystal creates singlemode operation, and acts as the vertical micro-channels. After creating the photonic crystal pattern in the VCSEL, the oxide layer is selectively wet etched to form the horizontal channel. Preliminary results obtained from the introduction of fluid into the micro-channels are presented.