Novel surface emitting laser diode using photonic band-gap crystal cavity

Abstract

A novel surface emitting laser diode consisting of a three-dimensional (3D) photonic band-gap crystal cavity is proposed. Spontaneous emission is controlled so as to radiate in the lasing direction with a narrow radiation angle by introducing a plane phase shift region into the cavity. The radiation pattern of the localized phase shift mode in the photonic band gap is analyzed with a plane-wave method by using a two-dimensional (2D) model. We show that the radiation angle of spontaneous emission in the photonic crystal cavity is as narrow as that of the stimulated emission of conventional surface emitting laser. Therefore, the photonic band-gap crystal cavity laser operates as a light source without threshold and spatial-emission-noise, and therefore is very attractive for use as the light source in spatially integrated optical circuits.