Lasing from active optomechanical resonators

Abstract

Planar microcavities with distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) host, besides confined optical modes, also mechanical resonances due to stop bands in the phonon dispersion relation of the DBRs. These resonances have frequencies in the 10- to 100-GHz range, depending on the resonator’s optical wavelength, with quality factors exceeding 1,000. The interaction of photons and phonons in such optomechanical systems can be drastically enhanced, opening a new route towards the manipulation of light. Here we implemented active semiconducting layers into the microcavity to obtain a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). Thereby, three resonant excitations—photons, phonons and electrons—can interact strongly with each other providing modulation of the VCSEL laser emission: a picosecond strain pulse injected into the VCSEL excites long-living mechanical resonances therein. As a result, modulation of the lasing intensity at frequencies up to 40 GHz is observed. From these findings, prospective applications of active optomechanical resonators integrated into nanophotonic circuits may emerge.

Picosecond Acoustics in Single Quantum Wells of Cubic GaN/(Al,Ga)N

“…Picosecond strain pulses in GaN QWs may be used for the modulation of UV light sources. The amplitude modulation of the laser emission in this case may reach 100%, similar to experiments performed in the near infrared with GaAs-based vertical lasers [27,28]. Another attractive field for application is UV nanoscopy [9], where the combination of short optical wavelengths and picosecond strain pulses allows one to reach nanometer resolution in measuring photonic and plasmonic fields and defects buried in GaN-based nanostructures.…”

Photoelastic properties of zinc-blende AlxGa1−xN in the UV: Picosecond ultrasonic studies

“…A technique that can complement ellipsometry is picosecond ultrasonics [9], which can measure the same optical parameters (e.g., refractive index and extinction coefficient) and can also obtain the photoelastic properties of the materials; the latter providing a route to the application of high-frequency ultrasonics in UV nanoscopic imaging [10] and ultrafast modulation [11,12] of nitride based lasers and light-emitting diodes. Picosecond ultrasonics was previously used to study the photoelastic properties of h-GaN and related nanostructures [13].…”

Spatial confinement of acoustic and optical waves in stubbed slab structure as optomechanical resonator

“…Besides, most experiments investigating optomechanical devices have been performed with optically passive systems only. Recent experiments find that a major step forward in implementing such optomechanical devices into integrated optoelectronic circuits would be the extension towards active structure that could generate light by active semiconducting layers like semiconductor quantum wells or quantum dots embedded in a micro-cavity [18]. If we want such applications as active optomechanical resonators, we need to design simple defected structure that could contain active semiconductor layers in the defect and have strong spatial localization of phonon and photon in the defect for strong resonances.…”