Threshold Power Investigations of Optically-Pumped Photonic Crystal Lasers with Buried Heterostructure Gain Regions

Among the many emerging and mature compact laser technologies for future integrated optical communications, 2D photonic crystal slab lasers have demonstrated record low performance in terms of threshold and energy cost per bit transmitted [1]. At the same time, the photonic crystal concept is associated with rich physical phenomena involving complex light and matter interactions, making it a convenient platform for detailed theoretical and experimental investigations of technologically important aspects, such as fabrication induced disorder in cavities with gain medium [2, 3]. Physical understanding and technological advancement come hand-in-hand in improving the device technology further.