In this paper we describe the technological and fabrication methods necessary to incorporate both photonic and electronic-band engineering in order to create novel surface-emitting quantum cascade microcavity laser sources. This technology offers the promise of several innovative applications such as the miniaturization of QC lasers, and multi-wavelength two-dimensional laser arrays for spectro...

We combine photonic and electronic band structure engineering to create a surface-emitting quantum cascade microcavity laser. A high-index contrast two-dimensional photonic crystal is used to form a micro-resonator that simultaneously provides feedback for laser action and diffracts light vertically from the surface of the semiconductor surface. A top metallic contact allows electrical current ...

ii 1 Overview 1.1 Motivation ............................................................................1 1.2 The Challenge ........................................................................2 2 Background 2.1 Two-dimensional Photonic Crystal ................................................3 2.2 Two-dimensional Photonic Crystal Laser Cavity ................................6 3 Design and A...

A model for quantitative analysis of microdisk laser emission spectra is presented. Conformal mapping is used to determine radial and azimuthal eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and cavity Q corresponding to leaky optical resonances in an optically transparent dielectric disk. The effects of gain and loss in a microcavity active medium are also included in the model. Our results compare well with expe...

Acoustic cavitation can occur in therapeutic applications of high-amplitude focused ultrasound. Studying acoustic cavitation has been challenging, because the onset of nucleation is unpredictable. We hypothesized that acoustic cavitation can be forced to occur at a specific location using a laser to nucleate a microcavity in a pre-established ultrasound field. In this paper we describe a scient...

We present all-optical tuning and switching of a microcavity inside a two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide. The photonic crystal structure is fabricated in silicon-on-insulator using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processing techniques based on deep ultraviolet lithography and is completely buried in a silicon dioxide cladding that provides protection from the environment. By foc...

Many proposed microfluidic biosensor designs are based on the measurement of the resonances of an optical microcavity. Fluorescence-based resonators tend to be simpler and more robust than setups that use evanescent coupling from tuneable laser to probe the cavity. In all sensor designs the detection limits depend on the wavelength resolution of the detection system, which is a limitation of fl...