Room temperature photonic crystal defect lasers at near-infrared wavelengths in InGaAsP

Room temperature lasing from optically pumped single defects in a two-dimen sional (2-D) photonic bandgap (PBG) crystal is demonstrated. The high-Q opt ical microcavities are formed by etching a triangular array of air holes in to a half-wavelength thick multiquantum-well waveguide. Defects in the 2-D photonic crystal are used to support highly localized optical modes with vo lumes ranging from 2 to 3 (lambda/2n)(3). Lithographic tuning of the air ho le radius and the lattice spacing are used to match the cavity wavelength t o the quantum-well gain peak, as well as to increase the cavity Q, The defe ct lasers were pumped with 10-30 ns pulses of 0.4-1% duty cycle, The thresh old pump power was 1.5 mW (approximate to 500 mu W absorbed).