Microdisk Cavities Research Articles

Optical characterisation of InGaN-based microdisk arrays with nanoporous GaN/GaN DBRs

Optically pumped whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing has been observed in many freestanding microdisk structures. Dry etching is normally used to fabricate the microdisks, which causes severe sidewall damage, resulting in degradation of lasing performance, especially for ultra-small electrically-injected devices. In this paper, we demonstrate high quality microdisk cavities with 3.5 µm diameter, by combining a selective overgrowth approach and an epitaxial lattice-matched distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), topped with a highly reflective (>99%) dielectric DBR. InGaN polaritons are found to occur in the high-quality microcavities. WGM modes are measured, with the positions in good agreement with finite difference time domain simulations. Furthermore, lasing behaviour is observed with a threshold at 410 µW and a dominant mode at 488 nm.

LASER GENERATION OF CdxHg1–xTe/CdyHg1–yTe QUANTUM WELL HETEROSTRUCTURE WITH MICRODISK RESONATORS AT A WAVELENGTH OF 4.1—5.1 μm

The first results on the study of photoluminescence and lasers radiation spectra of a CdHgTe solid solution-based quantum well structure with microdisk cavities of different diameters are demonstrated. It is shown that the presence of cavities contributes to an increase in the maximum operating temperature of generation compared to the unprocessed structure.

Boost Lasing Performances of 2D Semiconductor in a Hybrid Tungsten Diselenide Monolayer/Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Microcavity Laser

AbstractMonolayer (ML) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are suitable for use in low‐threshold, room‐temperature lasers. 2D semiconductor lasers are coherent, compact, and are suitable for multispectral light sources. 0D quantum dot technology has been applied in broadband‐emitting devices and high‐quality display systems. Herein, dual‐color continuous‐wave microcavity lasers are investigated by integrating a tungsten diselenide (WSe2) monolayer and cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs) into a single microdisk cavity. The hybrid TMDC/QD microcavity device not only achieves lasing in two distinct wavelength regions but also boosts the lasing performances of the WSe2 monolayer due to the energy conversion between the two gain materials. Variations in the spectra obtained under power‐dependent lasing are examined, and the temporal coherence properties of the lasing signals are also characterized to verify the lasing actions. The results indicate that the lasing threshold of the 2D WSe2 monolayer cavity with the CdSe QDs is reduced by more than 2.5 times compared with the WSe2 cavity without the QDs. These findings both expand the wavelength range of TMDC‐based compact lasers at room temperature and facilitate their implementation in applications such as photonic integrated circuits, broadband light‐emitting diodes, and quantum display systems.

On-chip ytterbium-doped lithium niobate microdisk lasers with high conversion efficiency.

Integrated optical systems based on lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) have attracted the interest of researchers. Recently, erbium-doped LNOI lasers have been realized. However, the reported lasers have a relatively lower conversion efficiency and only operate in the 1550 nm band. In this paper, we demonstrate an LNOI laser operating in the 1060 nm band based on a high Q factor ytterbium-doped LNOI microdisk cavity. The threshold and the conversion efficiency of the laser are 21.19 µW and 1.36%, respectively. To our knowledge, the conversion efficiency is the highest among the reported rare-earth-doped LNOI lasers. This research extends the operating band of LNOI lasers and shows the potential in realizing high-power LNOI lasers.

Progress in Germanium Tin (GeSn) Photonic Crystal Lasers

We report on lasing in two types of Germanium-Tin (GeSn) photonic crystal lasers, with band-edge and H4 hexagonal cavities. A GeSn 16% step-graded structure was used as the optical gain material. The strong out-of-plane emission observed in the band-edge cavity was attributed to the thick optical gain layer, in addition with the presence of leaky band-edge modes above the light cones and a high photonic density of states. The maximum lasing temperature in both types of photonic crystal lasers, 180 K, was lower than in a micro-disk laser fabricated from the same stack, i.e., 230 K. Meanwhile, the lasing thresholds at low temperature (15 K) were very similar (120 kW/cm² for a band-edge cavity and 140 kW/cm² for a H4 cavity, to be compared with 134 kW/cm² for a micro-disk cavity). Since the injected carrier density is governed by the pump power, we suggest the strong variation of optical gain at low temperature, for a small variation of injected carrier density, as a possible cause of such a phenomenon.

Optimal photon-magnon mode matching in whispering-gallery mode cavities.

Optomagnonic structures are widely studied in the field of nanophotonics and quantum information science. They are the key platforms for the realization of magnon-mediated microwave to optical transducers in various applications of quantum computing. In order to enhance the coupling between light (photons) and spin waves (magnons), here in this work, we use the Lagrange multiplication method to find the optimum matching condition between the optical whispering-gallery mode and the magnon with Kittle and higher-order modes in microresonators. It is found that the magnon modes located near the edge of the resonator exhibits stronger coupling strength with the optical modes. Numerically, we find the coupling constant can approach 87.6×2π H z in Kittle mode, and 459×2π H z in high-order magnon mode for a yttrium iron garnet (YIG, Y3Fe5O12 ) microdisk cavity with a radius of 300 microns and a thickness of 10 microns. We believe these results may provide an efficient way for enhancing the magneto-optical interaction in the optical devices, which will facilitate the development of magneto-optical control, optical-microwave interaction, and optical nonlinearity.

Integrated Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonator for Solid-State Coherent Quantum Photonics.

Tailored photonics cavities enhance light-matter interactions, ultimately enabling a fully coherent quantum interface. Here, we report an integrated microdisk cavity containing self-assembled quantum dots to coherently route photons between different access waveguides. We measure a Purcell factor of Fexp = 6.9 ± 0.9 for a cavity quality factor of about 10,000, allowing us to observe clear signatures of coherent scattering of photons by the quantum dots. We show how this integrated system can coherently reroute photons between the drop and bus ports and how this routing is controlled by detuning the quantum dot and resonator or through the strength of the excitation beam, where a critical photon number less than one photon per lifetime is required. We discuss the strengths and limitations of this approach, focusing on how the coherent scattering and single-photon nonlinearity can be used to increase the efficiency of quantum devices such as routers or Bell-state analyzers.

Accurate modeling and characterization of photothermal forces in optomechanics

Photothermal effects have been pointed out as prominent sources of forces in optomechanical systems, competing with the standard radiation pressure interactions. In this article, we derive a novel and accurate model for the prediction of photothermal forces and establish how some previous proposals can be complemented to yield precise results. As a proof-of-concept, we perform numerical and experimental tests on GaAs microdisk cavities and obtain striking agreement with our framework, revealing the importance of considering surface photothermal forces and the effects of multiple thermal modes in microphotonic devices.

Microdisk cavities with a Brewster notch

The authors introduce a notched optical microdisk cavity by combining total internal reflection and transmission at Brewster's angle. The corresponding high-quality modes are excitable with an attached waveguide and have their intensity partially trapped in the free space of the notch.

Microdisk Resonators: Photoluminescence‐Induced Four‐Wave Mixing Generation in a Monolayer‐MoS2‐Cladded GaN Microdisk Resonator (Laser Photonics Rev. 15(4)/2021)

In article number 2000459, Gangyi Zhu, Junbo Yang, Peiguang Yan, and co-workers demonstrate degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing operating in the visible spectral range in a GaN microdisk cavity which is driven by the A exciton emission in the monolayer MoS2 cladding. This work provides new insights for the research of on-chip light sources and helps promote future applications such as broadband integrated light sources, correlated photon-pair generation, and optoelectronic sensors.

An Optically Reconfigurable Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Process for Broadband Switchable Organic Single-Mode Microlasers

An Optically Reconfigurable Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Process for Broadband Switchable Organic Single-Mode Microlasers

Electrically injected GaN-based microdisk towards an efficient whispering gallery mode laser.

III-nitrides based microdisks with the mushroom-type shape are key components for integrated nanophotonic circuits. The air gap undercut in the mushroom-type microdisk is essential for maintaining vertical optical confinement, but this structure is still facing the difficulty of electrical injection. In this work, we demonstrate an electrically injected GaN-based microdisk of such structure. The device is featured with a copper substrate and copper supporting pedestal, through which current can be efficiently injected into the microdisk with low leakage current (less than 10 nA). Bright emission at ∼420 nm was demonstrated from the microdisk under current injection. The copper substrate and supporting pedestal can also extract thermal energy out of the microdisk effectively, and the structure in this work shows a low thermal resistance of ∼788.86 K/W. Low threshold lasing action at ∼405 nm was realized under the optically pumped condition and the threshold energy is ∼35 nJ/pulse. Clear whispering gallery modes were observed and the Q factor is as high as 4504, indicating the high quality of the microdisk cavity. This work is the first step towards low threshold efficient electrically injected microdisk laser with a mushroom-type shape.

Microdisk lasers on an erbium-doped lithium-niobite chip

Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) provides a platform for the fundamental physics investigations and practical applications of integrated photonics. However, as an indispensable building block of integrated photonics, lasers are in short supply. In this paper, erbium-doped LNOI laser in the 1550-nm band was demonstrated in microdisk cavities with high quality factors fabricated in batches by UV exposure, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching, and chemomechanical polishing. The threshold and conversion efficiency of the erbium-doped LNOI microdisk laser were measured to be lower than 1 mW and 6.5×10−5%, respectively. This work will benefit the development of integrated photonics based on LNOI.

Generation of Pure OAM Beams with a Single State of Polarization by Antenna-Decorated Microdisk Resonators

We report waveguide-addressed plasmonic-photonic resonators that generate beams of controlled orbital angular momentum and spin angular momentum content upon driving through a waveguide. From phase-gradient metasurfaces, we borrow the idea of carefully combining multiple nanoscale resonators in a repeat unit, from which we build periodic rings that decorate microdisk resonators. We describe the general mode structure of microdisk cavities perturbed by antenna arrays on the basis of a quasinormal mode formalism and present a strategy to simultaneously control the orbital and spin angular momentum content of light outcoupled to the far field. We propose a realization that uses silicon nitride disks and aluminum nanorod antennas. We find excellent polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) purity, as benchmarked by polarization-resolved interferometric Fourier microscopy on single devices.

Fabrication and characterization of deformed microdisk cavities in silicon dioxide with high Q-factor.

We demonstrate the excitation and characterization of whispering gallery modes in a deformed optical microcavity. To fabricate deformed microdisk microresonators we established a fabrication process relying on dry plasma etching tools for many degrees of freedom and a shape-accurate morphology. This approach allowed us to fabricate resonators of different sizes with a controlled sidewall angle and underetching in large quantities with reproducible properties such as a surface roughness RQ≤2nm. The excitation and characterization of these modes were achieved by using a state-of-the-art tapered fiber coupling setup with a narrow linewidth tunable laser source. The conducted measurements in shortegg resonators showed at least two modes within a spectral range of about 237 pm. The highest Q-factors measured were in the range of 105. Wave optical eigenmode and frequency domain simulations were conducted that could partially reproduce the observed behavior and therefore allow us to compare the experimental results.

Ultralow threshold blue quantum dot lasers: what’s the true recipe for success?

AbstractThe family of III-nitride materials has provided a platform for tremendous advances in efficient solid-state lighting sources such as light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. In particular, quantum dot (QD) lasers using the InGaN/GaN material system promise numerous benefits to enhance photonic performance in the blue wavelength regime. Nevertheless, issues of strained growth and difficulties in producing InGaN QDs with uniform composition and size pose daunting challenges in achieving an efficient blue laser. Through a review of two previous studies on InGaN/GaN QD microdisk lasers, we seek to provide a different perspective and approach in better understanding the potential of QD emitters. The lasers studied in this paper contain gain material where QDs are sparsely distributed, comprise a wide distribution of sizes, and are intermixed with “fragmented” quantum well (fQW) material. Despite these circumstances, the use of microdisk cavities, where a few distinct, high-quality modes overlap the gain region, not only produces ultralow lasing thresholds (∼6.2 μJ/cm2) but also allows us to analyze the dynamic competition between QDs and fQWs in determining the final lasing wavelength. These insights can facilitate “modal” optimization of QD lasing and ultimately help to broaden the use of III-nitride QDs in devices.

Reduced Lasing Thresholds in GeSn Microdisk Cavities with Defect Management of the Optically Active Region

GeSn alloys are nowadays considered as the most promising materials to build Group IV laser sources on silicon (Si) in a full complementary metal oxide semiconductor-compatible approach. Recent GeSn laser developments rely on increasing the band structure directness, by increasing the Sn content in thick GeSn layers grown on germanium (Ge) virtual substrates (VS) on Si. These lasers nonetheless suffer from a lack of defect management and from high threshold densities. In this work we examine the lasing characteristics of GeSn alloys with Sn contents ranging from 7 \% to 10.5 \%. The GeSn layers were patterned into suspended microdisk cavities with different diameters in the 4-\SI{8 }{\micro\meter} range. We evidence direct band gap in GeSn with 7 \% of Sn and lasing at 2-\SI{2.3 }{\micro\meter} wavelength under optical injection with reproducible lasing thresholds around \SI{10 }{\kilo\watt\per\square\centi\meter}, lower by one order of magnitude as compared to the literature. These results were obtained after the removal of the dense array of misfit dislocations in the active region of the GeSn microdisk cavities. The results offer new perspectives for future designs of GeSn-based laser sources.

A Photoisomerization-Activated Intramolecular Charge-Transfer Process for Broadband-Tunable Single-Mode Microlasers.

Miniaturized lasers with high spectral purity and wide wavelength tunability are crucial for various photonic applications. Here we propose a strategy to realize broadband-tunable single-mode lasing based on a photoisomerization-activated intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) process in coupled polymer microdisk cavities. The photoisomerizable molecules doped in the polymer microdisks can be quantitatively transformed into a kind of laser dye with strong ICT character by photoexcitation. The gain region was tailored over a wide range through the self-modulation of the optically activated ICT isomers. Meanwhile, the resonant modes shifted with the photoisomerization because of a change in the effective refractive index of the polymer microdisk cavity. Based on the synergetic modulation of the optical gain and microcavity, we realized the broadband tuning of the single-mode laser. These results offer a promising route to fabricate broadband-tunable microlasers towards practical photonic integrations.

A Photoisomerization‐Activated Intramolecular Charge‐Transfer Process for Broadband‐Tunable Single‐Mode Microlasers

AbstractMiniaturized lasers with high spectral purity and wide wavelength tunability are crucial for various photonic applications. Here we propose a strategy to realize broadband‐tunable single‐mode lasing based on a photoisomerization‐activated intramolecular charge‐transfer (ICT) process in coupled polymer microdisk cavities. The photoisomerizable molecules doped in the polymer microdisks can be quantitatively transformed into a kind of laser dye with strong ICT character by photoexcitation. The gain region was tailored over a wide range through the self‐modulation of the optically activated ICT isomers. Meanwhile, the resonant modes shifted with the photoisomerization because of a change in the effective refractive index of the polymer microdisk cavity. Based on the synergetic modulation of the optical gain and microcavity, we realized the broadband tuning of the single‐mode laser. These results offer a promising route to fabricate broadband‐tunable microlasers towards practical photonic integrations.

Dual-periodically poled lithium niobate microcavities supporting multiple coupled parametric processes.

Periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) microcavities with additional reciprocal vectors attract attention as a platform for efficient parametric nonlinear optical processes with wavelength and polarization flexibility. Here, we report the simultaneous realization of multiple coupled parametric processes in PPLN microdisk cavities with dual periods as a result of the significantly increased number of reciprocal vectors to fulfill quasi-phase matchings for a series of nonlinear processes. PPLN microdisks with up to 1.43×105 quality factors and unit domain size of 90 nm in width were fabricated using CMOS compatible microfabrication techniques and electrically poled with the help of piezoresponse force microscopy. The conversion efficiency of second-harmonic signal was measured to be 51%W-1. Our work paves the way towards efficient cascaded parametric effects including third- and fourth-harmonic generations.