Combining directional light output and ultralow loss in deformed microdisks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new mechanism for achieving highly directional light emission from optical microdisks by leveraging wave localization and chaotic ray dynamics, enabling improved microlaser performance.

Contribution

It presents a novel, robust method to produce directional emission in microdisks through wave and chaos phenomena, applicable across various geometries and materials.

Findings

Directional emission with narrow angular divergence achieved

Applicable across a range of geometries and parameters

Mechanism explained by wave localization and chaotic dynamics

Abstract

A drawback of high-quality modes in optical microdisks is their isotropic light emission characteristics. Here we report a novel, robust, and general mechanism that results in highly directional light emission from those modes. This surprising finding is explained by a combination of wave phenomena (wave localization along unstable periodic ray trajectories) and chaotic ray dynamics in open systems (escape along unstable manifolds). The emission properties originating in the chaotic ray dynamics permit directional light output even from microlasers operating in the common multi-mode regime. We demonstrate our novel mechanism for the limacon billiard family and find directional emission with narrow angular divergence for a significant range of geometries and material parameters.