VERY SMALL OXIDE-CONFINED VERTICAL MICROCAVITY LASERS WITH HIGH-CONTRAST ALGAAS-ALXOY MIRRORS

We report the photo-pumped lasing action from a very small oxide-confi ned 870-nm vertical microcavity lasers with high-contrast AlGaAs-AlxOy mirrors. The effective cavity length is as small as 0.37 mu m, and th e oxide aperture size is 0.74 mu m, estimated from the blue-shift of l asing mode due to the lateral confinement. The observed blue-shift of the lasing mode is 13.4 nm, the largest one ever reported for vertical cavity lasers. The optical losses seem to be size-independent for the se small microcavity lasers. Our results indicate the possibility of t he ultimate microcavity of order of lambda(3).