Photonic Crystal Cavities
The lasers with the smallest optical mode volumes are undoubtedly photonic
crystal lasers. We have pioneered the development of these lasers for
multi-wavelength sources over the past 10 years. For spectroscopic applications,
the laser cavities were modified to engineer a large overlap between the optical
mode and the material to be tested. We reported the first photonic crystal laser
in the Science paper “Two-dimensional Photonic Bandgap defect mode laser”. In
other photonic crystal nanocavity papers, we have described photonic crystal
lasers in InGaAsP, InGaN, InGaP and quantum dot material. We have also
demonst
rated the use of these optical nanocavities for sub-femtoliter
spectroscopy and for Q-switching by backfilling the photonic crystal with
samples or liquid crystal polymers.
