Room temperature low-threshold InAs/InP quantum dot single mode photonic crystal microlasers at 1.5 microm using cavity-confined slow light.

We have designed, fabricated, and characterized an InP photonic crystal slab structure that supports a cavity-confined slow-light mode, i.e. a bandgap-confined valence band-edge mode. Three dimensional finite difference in time domain calculations predict that this type of structure can support electromagnetic modes with large quality factors and small mode volumes. Moreover these modes are robust with respect to fabrication imperfections. In this paper, we demonstrate room-temperature laser operation at 1.5 mum of a cavity-confined slow-light mode under pulsed excitation. The gain medium is a single layer of InAs/InP quantum dots. An effective peak pump power threshold of 80 microW is reported.

Microlasers based on effective index confined slow light modes in photonic crystal waveguides.

We present the design, theory and experimental implementation of a low modal volume microlaser based on a line-defect 2D-photonic crystal waveguide. The lateral confinement of low-group velocity modes is controlled by the post-processing of 1 to 3microm wide PMMA strips on top of two dimensional photonic crystal waveguides. Modal volume around 1.3 (lambda/n)(3) can be achieved using this scheme. We use this concept to fabricate microlaser devices from an InP-based heterostructure including InAs(0.65)P(0.35) quantum wells emitting around 1550nm and bonded onto a fused silica wafer. We observe stable, room-temperature laser operation with an effective lasing threshold around 0.5mW.

Confinement of band-edge modes in a photonic crystal slab.

We study the confinement of low group velocity band-edge modes in a photonic crystal slab. We use a rigorous, three dimensional, finite-difference time-domain method to compute the electromagnetic properties of the modes of the photonic structures. We show that by combining a defect mode approach with the high-density of states associated with bandedge modes, one can design compact, fabrication-tolerant, high-Q photonic microcavities. The electromagnetic confinement properties of these cavities can foster enhanced radiation dynamics and should be well suited for ultralow-threshold microlasers and cavity quantum electrodynamics.

Coupled dipole method for radiation dynamics in finite photonic crystal structures.

We present a coupled-dipole treatment of radiation dynamics in the weak-coupling regime in a finite three-dimensional photonic crystal structure. The structure is discretized in real space and the self-consistent local field is computed. We illustrate the computation of radiation dynamics by calculating the spontaneous emission rate for a source located in a defect cavity inside a slab photonic crystal structure. We compute the cavity spectral response, the near-field modal structure, and the far-field radiation pattern of the microcavity. We also discuss our results in light of the recent experimental near-field observations of the optical modes of a photonic crystal microcavity.

Second mode transition in microstructured optical fibers: determination of the critical geometrical parameter and study of the matrix refractive index and effects of cladding size.

We carried out a numerical study of the second mode transition in finite-sized, microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) for several values of the matrix refractive index. We determined a unique critical geometrical parameter for the second mode cutoff that is valid for all the matrix refractive indices studied. Finite size effects and extrapolated results for infinite structures are described. Using scaling laws, we provide a generalized phase diagram for solid-core MOFs that is valid for all refractive indices, including those of the promising chalcogenide MOFs.