Abstract

The whispering-gallery mode microdisk - or thumbtack - laser is a novel, strongly confining, microstructure with “potential for the integrability and and low-power operation required for large- scale photonic integration”³. It is a thin dielectric (n ≈ 3.5) cylinder - or disk - on top of a rhombiod post. Analysis of the optical modes of this structure have, to date, consisted of scaling arguments drawn from the theory of whispering-gallery spheres. While this analysis has proved useful in understanding the basic aspects of the operation of this laser, it is limited. We have undertaken a complete electromagnetic analysis⁴ of the thumbtack laser using 2-D, 2.5-D and 3-D Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) codes which range in complexity from 2-D studies of the mode structure of the disk to a geometrically complete 3-D analysis of the radiation emitted from the laser. The goal of this project is to predict changes in the optical behavior that accompany structural changes in and about the laser described elsewhere in these proceedings⁵, and to guide optimized device design.

© 1993 Optical Society of America