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Optically triggered Q-switched photonic crystal laser

Brett Maune, Jeremy Witzens, Thomas Baehr-Jones, Michael Kolodrubetz, Harry Atwater, Axel Scherer, Rainer Hagen, and Yueming Qiu

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

An optically triggered liquid crystal infiltrated Q-switched photonic crystal laser is demonstrated. A photonic crystal laser cavity was designed and fabricated to support two orthogonally polarized high-Q cavity modes after liquid crystal infiltration. By controlling the liquid crystal orientation via a layer of photoaddressable polymer and a writing laser, the photonic crystal lasing mode can be reversibly switched between the two modes which also switches the laser’s emission polarization and wavelength. The creation of the Q-switched laser demonstrates the benefits of customizing photonic crystal cavities to maximally synergize with an infiltrated material and illustrates the potential of integrating semiconductor nanophotonics with optical materials.

©2005 Optical Society of America

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Figures (5)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Scanning electron micrograph of a fabricated 2D PC laser. The periodicity of holes is 450 nm. The inset shows a close up of the cavity geometry taken with a sample tilted 15°. Scale bar, 2 µm. Inset scale bar, 1 µm.

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Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Photonic crystal cavity modes and simulated Qs. Finite-difference time-domain simulation of Z component of magnetic field for a, X-polarized and b, Y-polarized modes. c, Simulated Q for X and Y-polarized cavity modes as a function of the ambient refractive index. Although the X-polarized mode has a Q significantly below that of the Y-polarized mode in air, both possess comparable Qs above 4000 even at an ambient refractive index of n ~1.5 [25]. Shaded region denotes ambient refractive index accessible by the infiltrated LC [22].

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Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Schematics of LC cell, optical setup, and PAP/LC photoinduced alignment. a, Schematic of PC laser LC/PAP cell. Thickness of LC and PAP films are approximately 5 µm, and 31±1 nm, respectively. Top coverslip is not shown. b, Schematic of PC laser optical characterization setup. c, Schematic representation of the LC reorientation via PAP photoinduced alignment. The PAP orients itself orthogonally (along X axis) with respect to the writing laser polarization direction (Y axis) which in turn induces a similar alignment in the LC.

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Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Confirmation of orthogonally polarized lasing modes. a, The laser spectra is taken with PAP/LC aligned with the Y axis and the collected light is passed through a polarizer oriented at various angles. The collected power is maximized with the polarizer oriented at 0° (X axis) and minimized at 90° (Y axis) which indicates the resonance is the X-polarized dipole mode. b, The laser spectra is taken with the same conditions as in a but with the PAP/LC aligned with the X axis. The collected power is maximized with the polarizer oriented at 90° (Y axis) and minimized at 0° (X axis) which indicates the resonance is the Y-polarized dipole mode. Insets a and b show simulation of cavity modes’ polarization profile. The spectra in parts a and b are normalized to the same power.

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Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Exp erimental realization of Q-switching. The laser spectra is taken after PAP writing laser aligns the PAP/LC at several orientations. After writing at 0° (PAP writing laser polarized along X axis which causes PAP/LC to orient along Y axis), emission is maximized for the X-polarized mode and minimized for the Y-polarized mode. As the PAP writing laser polarization is rotated towards 90°, the cladding refractive index for the X mode increases, raising losses until the lasing is quenched and emission terminates. Meanwhile, the Y mode experiences a decreasing refractive index, lowering cavity losses and driving the mode above threshold and lases.

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