Photonic crystal cavities for low-power light sources on Si: a simplified model development

We propose here a new class of nano-cavity surface-emitting light source on silicon, based on the integration of colloidal nanocrystal quantum dots (NCQDs) and air-hole two-dimensional photonic crystal (2D PC) slab waveguide cavities. A phenomenological dimensional reduction approach (PDRA) has been developed to investigate the characteristics of this class of NCQD-PC lasers. Over one order of magnitude in gain threshold reduction was obtained in single defect PC cavities owing to the spontaneous emission control. Ultra-compact high efficient light source is feasible based on the relative low gain NCQDs, as compared to conventional epitaxial III-V material systems, owing to the relaxed gain threshold requirement in PC cavities. It is also expected such single defect PC cavity based laser to have an optical output power more than 20 μW with cavity size less than 2 μm, making it an attractive source for optical interconnect and sensing applications.

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