Comprehensive analysis of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers via time-dependent three-dimensional coupled-wave theory

Abstract

We develop a time-dependent three-dimensional coupled-wave theory (3D-CWT) for the transient analysis of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs). Our model takes into account the temporal evolution of both the photon and carrier distribution inside PCSELs, which enable the analysis of various above-threshold lasing characteristics including the relaxation oscillation, spatial hole burning, and multimode lasing. With the developed time-dependent 3D-CWT, we perform transient analysis of the high-power, high-beam-quality PCSELs with double-lattice photonic crystals and reproduce the experimental results of near-field patterns and lasing spectra under high current injection. Our theory enables the comprehensive understanding of the device physics of PCSELs toward the realization of higher-power continuous-wave lasing and short-pulse lasing.