Wavelength-scale deformed microdisk lasers

Q. H. Song, Li Ge, J. Wiersig, J.-B. Shim, J. Unterhinninghofen, A. Eberspächer, W. Fang, G. S. Solomon, and Hui Cao

Phys. Rev. A 84, 063843 – Published 22 December 2011

Abstract

We investigate lasing and output directionality of limaçon-shaped microdisk lasers of dimensions comparable to the emission wavelength. The far-field patterns are shown to differ between lasing modes, unlike in large cavities where lasing modes exhibit universal emission directionality determined by chaotic ray dynamics. Unidirectional emission is obtained for certain modes in the wavelength-scale cavities. It results from weak coupling of nearly isotropic high-quality resonances to anisotropic low-quality resonances, combined with chiral symmetry breaking of clockwise and counterclockwise propagating waves. The latter is described by an extended ray dynamics which includes the Goos-Hänchen shift and the Fresnel filtering. Mode hybridization and wave effects in open cavities make it possible to control the output properties of individual lasing modes in wavelength-scale lasers.

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Received 4 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063843

Authors & Affiliations

Q. H. Song^1,*, Li Ge², J. Wiersig³, J.-B. Shim³, J. Unterhinninghofen^3,†, A. Eberspächer³, W. Fang⁴, G. S. Solomon⁴, and Hui Cao¹

¹Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8482, USA
²Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
³Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Magdeburg, Postfach 4120, D-39016 Magdeburg, Germany
⁴Joint Quantum Institute, NIST and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA

^*Current address: National Key Laboratory of Tunable Laser Technology, Institute of Opto-Electronics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, China.
^†Current address: OEC AG, Lindwurmstraße 41, D-80337 München, Germany.

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Vol. 84, Iss. 6 — December 2011

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