Extracting more light for vertical emission: high power continuous wave operation of 1.3-μm quantum-dot photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser based on a flat band

Huan-Yu Lu; Si-Cong Tian; Cun-Zhu Tong; Li-Jie Wang; Jia-Min Rong; Chong-Yang Liu; Hong Wang; Shi-Li Shu; Li-Jun Wang

doi:10.1038/s41377-019-0214-2

Extracting more light for vertical emission: high power continuous wave operation of 1.3-μm quantum-dot photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser based on a flat band

Light Sci Appl. 2019 Nov 22:8:108. doi: 10.1038/s41377-019-0214-2. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Huan-Yu Lu^{1

2}, Si-Cong Tian^{1

3}, Cun-Zhu Tong¹, Li-Jie Wang¹, Jia-Min Rong⁴, Chong-Yang Liu⁵, Hong Wang⁶, Shi-Li Shu¹, Li-Jun Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ 1State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 130033 Changchun, China.
² 2The University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
³ 3Bimberg Chinese-German Center for Green Photonics, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 130033 Changchun, China.
⁴ 4National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, 030051 Taiyuan, China.
⁵ 5Temasek Laboratories, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Drive, 637553 Singapore, Singapore.
⁶ 6Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Drive, 637553 Singapore, Singapore.

Abstract

For long distance optical interconnects, 1.3-μm surface-emitting lasers are key devices. However, the low output power of several milliwatts limits their application. In this study, by introducing a two-dimensional photonic-crystal and using InAs quantum dots as active materials, a continuous-wave, 13.3-mW output power, 1.3-μm wavelength, room-temperature surface-emitting laser is achieved. In addition, such a device can be operated at high temperatures of up to 90 °C. The enhanced output power results from the flat band structure of the photonic crystal and an extra feedback mechanism. Surface emission is realized by photonic crystal diffraction and thus the distributed Bragg reflector is eliminated. The proposed device provides a means to overcome the limitations of low-power 1.3-μm surface-emitting lasers and increase the number of applications thereof.

Keywords: Micro-optics; Semiconductor lasers.