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Disk-shaped semiconductor nanostructures provide enhanced architectures for low-threshold whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing with the potential for on-chip nanophotonic integration. Unlike cavities that lase via Fabry-Perot modes, WGM structures utilize low-loss, total internal reflection of the optical mode along the circumference of the structure, which effectively reduces the volume of gain material required for lasing. As a result, circularly resonant cavities provide much higher quality (Q) factors than lower reflection linear cavities, which makes nanodisks an ideal platform to investigate lasing nanostructures smaller than the free-space wavelength of light (i.e., subwavelength laser). Here we report the bottom-up synthesis and single-mode lasing properties of individual ZnO disks with diameters from 280 to 900 nm and show finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations of the whispering gallery mode inside subwavelength diameter disks. These results demonstrate ultraviolet WGM lasing in chemically synthesized, isolated nanostructures with subwavelength diameters.

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The piezoelectric effects on the optical gain of wurtzite GaN/AlGaN QW lasers taking into account the many-body effects are presented. The self-consistent model with piezoelectric field effect shows that band structures and optical gain are significantly affected by the piezoelectric field at relatively low carrier densities. The peak gain is redshifted and smaller when compared to the flat-band model without piezoelectric field effect. Only gain peaks corresponding to C1-HH1 and C1-LH1 transitions are observed in the investigated range and transitions for C1-HH2 and C1-LH2 are negligible due to the large subband energy spacing at low carrier densities and small matrix elements at high carrier densities. At high carrier densities, the self-consistent model shows band structures and optical properties similar to the flat-band model due to the screening effects.

A variable semiconductor optical buffer based on the electromagnetically induced transparency in a quantum dot waveguide is theoretically investigated with feasible parameters for applications to a 40 Gbps optical network. We show the refractive index and absorption spectra of the quantum dot waveguide at various pump levels, which exhibit an optimal pump power for maximum slow-down factor, in agreement with the previous experimental observation using a Pr-doped solid. The group velocity slow-down factor is theoretically analysed as a function of the pump intensity at different broadened linewidths. Inhomogeneous broadening in self-assembled quantum dots degrades the slowdown factor. In order to reduce the inhomogeneous broadening effects, we propose to use a resonant microcavity structure with quantum dots embedded in the active layer to enhance the slow-down factor.