Scaled Microdisk Lasers a Doctoral Dissertation

Microdisk lasers, based on whispering gallery optical resonances, have recently attracted considerable attention. The interest in microdisk lasers is driven by, amongst other factors, their potential for low-threshold power, ease of fabrication and in-plane emission characteristics. However, there are a few key challenges that need to be overcome for these devices to become practical, chief among which is the ability to operate continuously at room-temperature. This work demonstrates solutions that are aimed at improving the performance of microdisk lasers. Room-temperature continuous operation in microdisk lasers is realized by a simultaneous optimization of the thermal and optical designs. A novel technique to precisely control the lasing wavelength is also described. Performance of microdisk lasers with decreasing size (scaling) are also explored in detail for the first time. The effect of varying disk radius on the dynamic behavior is investigated. The existence of an intrinsic feedback mechanism in voltage-biased scaled lasers is proposed and discussed. This feedback mechanism significantly modifies the noise characteristics of scaled devices.