Controlling a microdisk laser by local refractive index perturbation
- Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States)
- Department of Engineering Science and Physics, College of Staten Island, CUNY, Staten Island, New York 10314 (United States)
- Joint Quantum Institute, NIST and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 (United States)
We demonstrate a simple yet effective approach of controlling lasing in a semiconductor microdisk by photo-thermal effect. A continuous wave green laser beam, focused onto the microdisk perimeter, can enhance or suppress lasing in different cavity modes, depending on the position of the focused beam. Its main effect is a local modification of the refractive index of the disk, which results in an increase in the power slope of some lasing modes and a decrease of others. The boundary roughness breaks the rotational symmetry of a circular disk, allowing the lasing process to be tuned by varying the green beam position. Using the same approach, we can also fine tune the relative intensity of a quasi-degenerate pair of lasing modes. Such post-fabrication control, enabled by an additional laser beam, is flexible and reversible, thus enhancing the functionality of semiconductor microdisk lasers.
- OSTI ID:
- 22489387
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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