Modal characteristics and bistability in twin microdisk photonic molecule lasers

We demonstrate coupled-mode characteristics and bistability in photonic molecule lasers composed of evanescent-coupled GaInAsP twin microdisks. First, we show room-temperature continuous-wave operation by photopumping and discuss the unique behavior of coupled modes, i.e., the anticrossing and splitting characteristics of bonding and antibonding modes. Next, we present the clear bistability, which is observed for the antibonding mode by nonuniform pumping with an effective power of nearly 40 /spl mu/W. It is explained by rate equation analysis, which assumes saturable absorption. The analysis also predicts mode switching by the carrier-induced refractive index change. A micron-sized device with a very low power consumption will allow large scale integration of optical memories, optical flip-flops, and so forth.

[1]  H. Kawaguchi.  Optical bistability and chaos in a semiconductor laser with a saturable absorber , 1984 .

[2]  Optical bistability in coupled‐cavity semiconductor lasers , 1984 .

[3]  Roy Lang,et al.  Conditions for self-sustained pulsation and bistability in semiconductor lasers , 1985 .

[4]  H. Serizawa,et al.  Effect of device parameters on bistable semiconductor laser , 1986 .

[5]  A. F. J. Levi,et al.  Whispering-gallery mode microdisk lasers , 1992 .

[6]  R. Slusher,et al.  Electrically pumped, room-temperature microdisk semiconductor lasers with submilliampere threshold currents , 1992 .

[7]  A. F. J. Levi,et al.  Room temperature operation of submicrometre radius disk laser , 1993 .

[8]  Umar Mohideen,et al.  GaAs/AlGaAs microdisk lasers , 1994 .

[9]  Seng-Tiong Ho,et al.  Double‐disk structure for output coupling in microdisk lasers , 1994 .

[10]  A. Sakai,et al.  Lasing characteristics of GaInAsP-InP strained quantum-well microdisk injection lasers with diameter of 2-10 /spl mu/m , 1997, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[11]  Toshihiko Baba,et al.  Photonic crystals and microdisk cavities based on GaInAsP-InP system , 1997 .

[12]  Johann Peter Reithmaier,et al.  Optical Modes in Photonic Molecules , 1998 .

[13]  Makoto Kuwata-Gonokami,et al.  Tight-Binding Photonic Molecule Modes of Resonant Bispheres , 1999 .

[14]  Toshihiko Baba,et al.  FDTD simulation of photonic devices and circuits based on circular and fan-shaped microdisks , 1999 .

[15]  Masayuki Fujita,et al.  Ultrasmall and ultralow threshold GaInAsP-InP microdisk injection lasers: design, fabrication, lasing characteristics, and spontaneous emission factor , 1999 .

[16]  D. Song,et al.  InGaAsP microdisk lasers on Al/sub x/O/sub y/ , 2000, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[17]  Masayuki Fujita,et al.  Continuous wave lasing in GaInAsP microdisk injection laser with threshold current of 40 /spl mu/A , 2000 .

[18]  Toshihiko Baba,et al.  Low-threshold lasing and Purcell effect in microdisk lasers at room temperature , 2003 .

[19]  T. J. Kippenberg,et al.  Ultra-high-Q toroid microcavity on a chip , 2003, Nature.

[20]  Kengo Nozaki,et al.  Ultralow threshold and single-mode lasing in microgear lasers and its fusion with quasi-periodic photonic crystals , 2003 .

[21]  M. Smit,et al.  A fast low-power optical memory based on coupled micro-ring lasers , 2004, Nature.

[22]  M. Lipson,et al.  All-optical control of light on a silicon chip , 2004, Nature.

[23]  S. J. Choi,et al.  8-Channel microdisk CW laser arrays vertically coupled to common output bus waveguides , 2004 .

[24]  Satoru Ishii,et al.  Photonic molecule laser composed of GaInAsP microdisks , 2005 .