Abstract

Spontaneous emission control¹⁾ is of great interest since it provides novel high performance in laser diodes, e.g., thresholdless operation and high speed modulation without relaxation oscillation. It is realized in a microcavity whose volume V satisfies single mode condition $V\leqq {\lambda }^4/\left(4\pi n^3\Delta \lambda \right)$, where n is the effective refractive index of cavity and Δλ is the spectral width of atomic radiation. It is easier in microdisk lasers²⁾ than in VCSELs to realize this condition since vertical cavity size of microdisk lasers is easily reduced by the strong optical confinement into thin disk layer. In this study, we demonstrate injection devices of 3 – 10 μm in diameter and 0.2 μm in disk thickness, which are close to the single mode condition. We compare the diameter dependence of lasing characteristics between experiment and theory, and discuss the potential of this kind of device for spontaneous emission control.

© 1997 Optical Society of America