Caltech Nanofabrication Group

We have designed, fabricated and characterized efficient optical resonators and low-threshold lasers based on planar photonic crystal concept. Lasers with InGaAsP quantum well active material emitting at 1550 nm were optically pumped, and room temperature lasing was observed at threshold powers below 220 µW. Porous high quality factor cavity that we have developed confines light in the air region and therefore our lasers are ideally suited for investigation of interaction between light and matter on a nanoscale level. We have demonstrated the operation of photonic crystal lasers in different ambient organic solutions, and we have showed that planar photonic crystal lasers can be used to perform spectroscopic tests on femtoliter volumes of analyte.