Various high-order modes in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with equilateral triangular lateral confinement.

Large-aperture vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with an equilateral triangular lateral confinement are fabricated to investigate the formation of high-order resonant modes. The experimental lasing patterns are composed of the superscar mode, honeycomb eigenstate, and chaotic mode. Experimental results confirm the theoretical predictions that tiny symmetry breaking can cause the high-order modes to reveal miscellaneous states of integrable and chaotic systems.