Room temperature continuous wave operation of single-mode, edge-emitting photonic crystal Bragg lasers

Lin Zhu,Guy A Derose,Axel Scherer,Xiankai Sun,Amnon Yariv

doi:10.1364/oe.16.000502

Lin Zhu, Guy A Derose + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.16.000502

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Journal: Optics Express	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
Citations: 15	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: California Institute of Technology

Abstract

We report the first room temperature CW operation of two dimensional single-mode edge-emitting photonic crystal Bragg lasers. Single-mode lasing with single-lobed, diffraction limited far-fields is obtained for 100microm wide and 550microm long on-chip devices. We also demonstrate the tuning of the lasing wavelength by changing the transverse lattice constant of the photonic crystal. This enables a fine wavelength tuning sensitivity (change of the lasing wavelength/change of the lattice constant) of 0.072. This dependence proves that the lasing mode is selected by the photonic crystal lattice.

Highlights

The idea of using two dimensional distributed feedback in lasers dates back to 1973 [1]
We report the first room temperature continuous wave (CW) operation of two dimensional distributed feedback, single-mode, edge-emitting semiconductor lasers
The far-field of the photonic crystal Bragg laser is single-lobed and possesses a small beam divergence angle of 1°, as shown in Fig. 4(b). (In the CCD far-field image, the fringes in the vertical direction are due to unwanted interferences in the measurement.) The emitting aperture of the laser is about 100μm, corresponding to a theoretical diffraction-limited far-field FWHM width of 0.99° [15]

Summary

Introduction

The idea of using two dimensional distributed feedback in lasers dates back to 1973 [1]. Single-mode operation of large-area, edge-emitting semiconductor lasers using two dimensional distributed feedback has only been demonstrated either in room temperature pulsed condition [9, 10] or low temperature CW condition [11]. We report the first room temperature CW operation of two dimensional single-mode edge-emitting photonic crystal Bragg lasers. These lasers break the limit of the index guiding for designing edge-emitting, single-mode semiconductor lasers using distributed feedback structures. Despite the non-uniform intensity distribution in the near-field, the far-field is single-lobed and diffraction-limited This proves that the photonic crystal Bragg structure can prevent filamentation and ensure a single-mode operation. This dependence proves that the lasing mode is selected by the photonic crystal lattice

Design and fabrication of photonic crystal Bragg lasers

Experiment results and discussions

Conclusion