Surface-emitting photonic crystal distributed feedback laser systems and methods

A method of producing a near-diffraction-limited optical beam of light using a surface emission photonic crystal distributed feedback laser, comprising:

• providing a laser waveguide bounded by a top and bottom optical claddings;
• configuring an active region of the waveguide to produce optical gain upon receiving optical or electrical pumping;
• providing a periodic two-dimensional grating having an order higher than a fundamental to induce modulation of a modal refractive index;
• confining a lateral pumped gain area to within area covered by the grating, the lateral pumped gain area configured to produce gain in at least one lasing mode having a modal index modulated by the grating, the lateral pumped gain area having a substantially circular shape of diameter D;
• and
• enclosing the lateral pumped gain area by an unpumped region contained within the area covered by the grating but not receiving the optical or electrical pumping.

method of producing a near-diffraction-limited beam of light using a surface emission photonic crystal distributed feedback laser, comprising:

• a) selecting one or more parameters for a two-dimensional grating to operate at a predetermined wavelength;
• b) calculating coupling coefficients κ1, κ2, and κ3 using at least the grating parameters;
• c) calculating output power and beam quality of the laser, the calculating comprising:
• for each time interval Δt, calculating:
• i) for each mesh point with coordinates (Ix, Iz) in a laser plane representing rectangular region with dimensions Δx, Δz, calculating modal gain and carrier-induced index change using rate equations for carrier density and numerically integrating gain and index parts of the rate equations;
• ii) performing a two-dimensional Discrete Fourier Transform in the laser plane with respect to x and z;
• iii) for each mesh point with coordinates (IxIz) in a laser plane representing rectangular region with dimensions Δx, Δz, numerically integrate ∂ a ~ 1 ∂ t = c n 0 ⁡ [ - i ⁢ ⁢ 2 ⁢ ⁢ π ⁢ ⁢ l z L z ⁢ ⁢ Δ ⁢ ⁢ z ⁢ ⁢ a ~ 1 - i 2 ⁢ k 0 ⁢ ⁢ n 0 ⁢ ⁢ ( 4 ⁢ ⁢ π 2 ⁢ ⁢ l x 2 L x 2 ⁢ ⁢ ( Δ ⁢ ⁢ x ) 2 + 4 ⁢ ⁢ π 2 ⁢ ⁢ l z 2 L z 2 ⁢ ⁢ ( Δ ⁢ ⁢ z ) 2 ) ⁢ ⁢ a ~ 1 + ( - i ⁢ ⁢ κ 1 - κ 0 ) ⁢ ⁢ a _ ~ 1 + ( - i ⁢ ⁢ κ 2 - κ 0 ) ⁢ ⁢ ( a ~ 2 + a _ ~ 2 ) ] ⁢ ⁢ and ∂ a ~ 2 ∂ t = c n 0 ⁡ [ - i ⁢ ⁢ 2 ⁢ ⁢ π ⁢ ⁢ l x L x ⁢ ⁢ Δ ⁢ ⁢ x ⁢ ⁢ a ~ 2 - i 2 ⁢ k 0 ⁢ ⁢ n 0 ⁢ ⁢ ( 4 ⁢ ⁢ π 2 ⁢ ⁢ l x 2 L x 2 ⁢ ⁢ ( Δ ⁢ ⁢ x ) 2 + 4 ⁢ ⁢ π 2 ⁢ ⁢ l z 2 L z 2 ⁢ ⁢ ( Δ ⁢ ⁢ z ) 2 ) ⁢ ⁢ a ~ 2 + ( - i ⁢ ⁢ κ 1 - κ 0 ) ⁢ ⁢ a _ ~ 2 + ( - i ⁢ ⁢ κ 2 - κ 0 ) ⁢ ⁢ ( a ~ 1 + a _ ~ 1 ) ] ;
• and
• iv) performing a two-dimensional inverse discrete Fourier transform in the laser plane with respect to x and z;
• determining if the output power corresponds to desired quantum efficiency;
• and
• e) determining if the beam quality is in a desired range of diffraction limit.