Ultrasmall Microfabricated Laser Cavities

Abstract : Established cavity designs for commercial semiconductor lasers are mostly based on Fabry-Perot etalons for edge or surface emission. Similar to the trend of miniaturization of integrated electronics, there is a quest to shrink the size of semiconductor lasers, in order to pack more devices on less material and in the hope of modifying the laser efficiency with control over spontaneous emission in tiny cavities. In this program, we have used microdisk, vertical-cavity and photonic crystal cavities to confine light into smaller and smaller volumes.