Relationship between Threshold Gain and Bragg Detuning in Photonic-Crystal Surface-Emitting Lasers

Abstract

The device characteristics of GaSb-based mid-infrared (MIR) photonic-crystal (PC) surface-emitting lasers (SELs) were investigated with respect to depths of etched PC holes. Measurement of below-threshold emission spectra identifies the bandgap as well as band-edge modes. The bandgap separation, which is a function of feedback coupling, increases with increasing depth. From within, the Bragg frequencies and their detuning from lasing frequencies can be determined. Moreover, with increasing depth, the threshold pumping density decreases exponentially to a saturation level, which is assigned to minimum device modal gain of certain value. The relative threshold gain is then plotted as a function of normalized frequency detuning. The gain-detuning relationship of PCSELs is similar to that of one-dimensional (1D) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers.