Abstract

Photonic crystals (PCs) allow unprecedented control over radiative properties of embedded emitters. High-Q cavities defined in PCs confine photons to small volume, enabling strong light-matter interaction. Lasers in particular stand to gain considerably through decreased lasing threshold, modulation rate, cost, fonn factor, and device integration. We discuss a THz-modulation photonic crystal laser in a GaAs membrane [1], The device draws on a multiple quantum well (MQW) gain medium that was surface-passivated using a (NH₄)S treatment to reduce nonradiative recombination losses [2]. The increased efficiency alleviates heating problems and allows room temperature operation in pulsed mode, showing extremely fast pulses with FWHM detector in the THz regime and ultra-low-threshold (< 5μW) continuous- wave (CW) lasing at low temperature.

© 2007 IEEE