First-principles simulation of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers using rigorous coupled wave analysis (Conference Presentation)

Alex Yu Song; Akhil Raj Kumar Kalapala; Weidong Zhou; Shanhui Fan

doi:10.1117/12.2508690

13 March 2019 First-principles simulation of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers using rigorous coupled wave analysis (Conference Presentation)

Alex Yu Song, Akhil Raj Kumar Kalapala, Weidong Zhou, Shanhui Fan

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10939, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVIII; 1093908 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2508690
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2019, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Photonic-crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs) exhibit several unique features compared to conventional vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) including scalability, high power, and high beam quality. They are promising candidates in power-demanding applications such as free-space sensing. Motivated by the experimental advances, there have been significant efforts in developing the simulation tools for PCSELs. In particular, a coupled mode theory (CWT) model for PCSEL was developed, which provides important insights into the operating mechanisms. However, CWT makes several uncontrolled approximations such as a small number of waveguide modes as the basis, which is difficult to justify since the index contrast in PCSELs can be quite large. Here we show that PCSELs, especially its lasing threshold, can be simulated from first-principles by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA). Traditionally, RCWA has been widely used to simulate the transmission or reflection of such structures, where the frequency is real. Here, we use RCWA to calculate the scattering matrix (S-matrix) of PCSELs on the complex frequency plane. This approach builds upon the concepts from steady-state ab initio laser theory (SALT). On the complex frequency plane, the poles of the S-matrix correspond to various resonances of the structure, including Fabry-Pérot resonances and the guided resonances. We gradually increase the material gain in the PCSEL, and the threshold is retrieved as the gain value for which the first pole crosses the real axis. Other important characteristics such as the quality factor of each mode and the power efficiency of the laser can be computed as well.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Alex Yu Song, Akhil Raj Kumar Kalapala, Weidong Zhou, and Shanhui Fan "First-principles simulation of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers using rigorous coupled wave analysis (Conference Presentation)", Proc. SPIE 10939, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVIII, 1093908 (13 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2508690

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
PRESENTATION

WATCH
PRESENTATION SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

KEYWORDS

Laser crystals

Optical simulations

Photonic crystals

Continuous wavelet transforms

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

High power lasers

Laser scattering

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years