Microcavity-enhanced surface-emitted second-harmonic generation from 200 fs pulses at 1.5 mu m

We present theoretical results for short-pulse surface-emitted second-harmo nic generation and show that significant cavity enhancement is possible in the femtosecond regime. Experimentally, we demonstrate enhanced surface-emi tted second-harmonic generation using 200 fs fundamental pulses near 1.5 mu m by use of a 5 lambda (SH)/2n vertical microcavity in [211]-oriented AlGaA s waveguides. The microcavity height is minimized by allowing the distribut ed Bragg reflectors that define the vertical cavity to also serve as claddi ng layers for the fundamental waveguide, thereby increasing the resonance w idth and hence the overlap with the second-harmonic spectrum. (C) 2001 Amer ican Institute of Physics.