A photonic crystal nanocavity laser in an optically very thick slab

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates room-temperature pulsed lasing from a photonic crystal nanocavity in a very thick slab, showing high coupling efficiency and potential for integrated photonic circuits.

Contribution

It introduces a photonic crystal nanocavity laser in an optically thick slab, achieving high-Q modes and efficient in-plane laser emission, which was not previously demonstrated in such thick slabs.

Findings

Lasing at 1324 nm in a 606 nm thick InGaAsP slab.

Over 90% of laser output couples to slab modes when thickness exceeds 800 nm.

Potential for efficient in-plane lasers in photonic integrated circuits.

Abstract

A photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavity formed in an optically very thick slab can support reasonably high-Q modes for lasing. Experimentally, we demonstrate room-temperature pulsed lasing operation from the PhC dipole mode emitting at 1324 nm, which is fabricated in an InGaAsP slab with thickness (T) of 606 nm. Numerical simulation reveals that, when T > 800 nm, over 90% of the laser output power couples to the PhC slab modes, suggesting a new route towards an efficient in-plane laser for photonic integrated circuits.