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Room-temperature continuous-wave lasing in GaN/InGaN microdisks

Nature Photonics volume 1, pages 61–64 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Microdisk lasers feature low-loss, high-quality whispering gallery modes1,2,3 that offer the potential for ultralow-threshold lasing4,5,6,7 that is not limited by challenges in mirror fabrication. Here we report fabrication and optical measurements of GaN-based microdisk lasers with a very low threshold of 300 W cm−2—orders of magnitude lower than any previous GaN microdisk laser. This is also the first report of room-temperature, continuous-wave (CW) lasing in a GaN microdisk.

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Figure 1: Epitaxial structure of material used to make microdisks.
Figure 2: Scanning electron microscope image of a 1.2-µm microdisk.
Figure 3: Room-temperature photoluminescence spectra.
Figure 4: FDTD simulation data for the 1.2-µm disk.
Figure 5: Power-dependent data for 1.2-µm disk.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Y.-S. Choi for advice about processing and optical measurements and K. Hennessey for help with FDTD simulations. Funding for this work was provided by DMEA under the Center for Nanoscience Innovation for Defense. A.C.T. is supported by the Department of Defense NDSEG fellowship. K.H.L. thanks Wingate Foundation for assisting with the research visit to UCSB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 93106-5050, California, USA

    Adele C. Tamboli, Elaine D. Haberer, Rajat Sharma, Shuji Nakamura & Evelyn L. Hu

  2. Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OX1 3PU, Oxford, UK

    Kwan H. Lee

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  1. Adele C. Tamboli
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Correspondence to Adele C. Tamboli.

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Tamboli, A., Haberer, E., Sharma, R. et al. Room-temperature continuous-wave lasing in GaN/InGaN microdisks. Nature Photon 1, 61–64 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2006.52

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