title: Active photonic crystal terahertz laser.
abstract: We present the design and the realization of active photonic crystal (PhC) semiconductor lasers. The PhC consists of semiconductor nanostructure pillars which provide gain at a quantized transition energy. The vertical layer sequence is that of a terahertz quantum cascade laser. Thereby, the artificial crystal itself provides the optical gain and the lateral confinement. The cavities do not rely on a central defect, the lasing is observed in flat-band regions at high symmetry points. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with the finite-difference time-domain simulations. For the vertical confinement a double-metal waveguide is used. The lasers are showing a stable single-mode emission under all driving conditions. Varying the period of the PhC allows to tune the frequency by 400 GHz.
authors.affiliation: Photonics Institute and Center for Micro- and Nanostructures, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstrasse 29/387, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. alexander.benz@tuwien.ac.at
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benz
authors.forename: Ch
authors.initials: Ch
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fasching
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Unterrainer
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klang
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schrenk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Strasser