Takahiro Sugiyama

Demonstration of a photonic crystal surface-emitting laser pumped Yb:YAG laser

We developed a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG continuous wave oscillator directly pumped with a photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL). A high slope efficiency of 65.7% was obtained at an output power of 208 mW. The beam quality was close to the diffraction limit, with M2<1.2 in both directions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first PCSEL pumped solid state laser to be developed.

Effects of non-lasing band in two-dimensional photonic-crystal lasers clarified using omnidirectional band structure

We investigated the effects of non-lasing bands on the beam patterns in photonic-crystal lasers by evaluating the omnidirectional band structure both experimentally and theoretically. We found that a new, weak dual-streak pattern is occasionally generated around the main lobe of the output beam because of scattering of the lasing beam in the non-lasing bands despite a wavenumber mismatch. This result indicates that we can design the high-quality devices without such a noise pattern. In addition, this evaluation method is expected to be useful for developing various high-functionality PC lasers.

High power photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers

We demonstrate the highest output power of 780 mW in single photonic crystal surface emitting lasers under continuous wave operation at room temperature. We also report the beam quality M2 = 1.1.

Phase-modulating lasers toward on-chip integration

Controlling laser-beam patterns is indispensable in modern technology, where lasers are typically combined with phase-modulating elements such as diffractive optical elements or spatial light modulators. However, the combination of separate elements is not only a challenge for on-chip miniaturisation but also hinders their integration permitting the switchable control of individual modules. Here, we demonstrate the operation of phase-modulating lasers that emit arbitrarily configurable beam patterns without requiring any optical elements or scanning devices. We introduce a phase-modulating resonator in a semiconductor laser, which allows the concurrent realisation of lasing and phase modulation. The fabricated devices are on-chip-sized, making them suitable for integration. We believe this work will provide a breakthrough in various laser applications such as switchable illumination patterns for bio-medical applications, structured illuminations, and even real three-dimensional or highly realistic displays, which cannot be realised with simple combinations of conventional devices or elements.

Realization of high-power narrow beam divergence in photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser

The photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) is an attractive semiconductor laser in which a thin two-dimensional photonic-crystal (2D-PC) layer is incorporated into the ordinary broad area edge-emitting laser structure to control the longitudinal-transverse mode owing to diffraction. In principle, the zero group velocity effect at the band edge of the 2D-PC is utilized as a resonator and can be used for the unique properties including large-area coherent oscillation as well as arbitrary beam controlling, which includes the polarization, beam patterns, directions, and generation of vector beams. We investigated the PCSEL toward realizing a practical device that has high power and high beam quality. Here, we show our recent progress. The device structure, which consists of an InGaAs/AlGaAs material system on n-GaAs substrates, is based on an ordinary broad area edge-emitting laser structure except it has a thin 2D-PC layer. The 2D-PC layer is placed near the active layer, and both are embedded between the p and n cladding layers. It is fabricated by using EB lithography, dry etching, and regrowth or MOCVD. The square emitting area has side of 200 micrometers, and transverse modes are well controlled in the entire region. The output power is more than 0.75 W with a single wavelength of 966 nm, and the narrow beam divergence is as narrow as 1° under continuous wave (CW) operation at room temperature. The beam quality is superior with an M2 of 1.1, which is almost the same as that of the ideal Gaussian beam.

Photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers as a pumping light source for second harmonic generation

Photonic crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs) have recently been achieved with both a single spectrum and narrow spot beam pattern under several hundred mW of output power. Even though the high coherence properties of PCSELs are expected to be used for various applications, we have focused on a pumping light source for a wavelength conversion system in this work. We fabricated a 1.06 μm PCSEL with a square lattice 2D photonic crystal in which the lattice period corresponded to the lasing wavelength to obtain green light. The fabricated device had a narrow spot beam pattern of less than 0.5 degrees and a single spectrum at 1068 nm under CW output power of more than 200 mW despite the broad emitting area of 200 × 200 μm2. The wavelength conversion system used single pass second-harmonic generation (SHG) that consisted of only the PCSEL and 50 mm long bulk MgO doped periodically with poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) as a nonlinear medium, i.e., it was a lens-free system. It was important to maintain the high brightness of the pumping light in this system with a single spectrum through the MgO:PPLN. As a result, SHG light was obtained at 534 nm with a narrow spot beam pattern, which followed the beam quality of the PCSEL under CW operation.

Evaluation of Laguerre-Gaussian beam generated with integrable phase-modulating surface-emitting lasers

We demonstrated direct surface-emitting of Laguerre–Gaussian beams with wavefront modulated lasers. This integrable phase-modulating surface-emitting lasers has potential to emit arbitrarily configured beam patterns without requiring any optical elements or scanning devices. The fabricated devices are on-chip-sized, making them suitable for integration. We introduce a phase-modulating resonator in a semiconductor laser, which analogically behaves as phaseonly holograms, kinoform, to allow the concurrent realization of lasing and phase modulation. Particularly, this is promising in the use for free-space optical communications due to the fact that coaxial propagation of orbital angular momentum (OAM) properties with different OAM mode states are mutually orthogonal.

Fabrication and characterization of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers with triangular double-hole lattice points

Recently, W-class photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) with both a single spectrum and narrow spot beam pattern are reported. These highly coherent PCSEL properties cause a highly bright laser light that is useful for various applications. To improve the PCSEL output power, it is important to enlarge the emitting area to reduce the heat generation effect. However, multi-mode oscillation occurs in a broad emitting area because the difference in the threshold gain between the fundamental and higher modes becomes narrower as the emitting area is broadened. In this work, we fabricate PCSELs with double-hole lattice points that decrease the optical confinement to prevent multi-mode oscillation. The fabricated device, consisting of an AlGaAs/InGaAs material system designed to be oscillated at a wavelength of 940nm, has an emitting area of 300 × 300 μm2. In a square lattice photonic crystal whose lattice period equals the lasing wavelength embedded in PCSELs, the distance between the centers of the double hole is set to one quarter of the lasing wavelength to decrease in-plane coupling caused by interference. We confirm that this device is oscillated at the Γ point of band edge A in the photonic band structure. The peak power is more than 5 W under pulse operation at 10 A. The device has a narrow beam divergence of less than 1° and single lobe spectrum in spite of the broad emitting area, so these double-hole lattice points are an effective structure to improve the PCSEL output power.

Demonstration of watt-class high-power photonic-crystal lasers

We demonstrate watt-class high output power (1.5 W) operation in single-chip photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers under room-temperature continuous-wave condition. The beam quality factor M2 has been found to be kept at 1.0 up to 0.5 W.

Single mode operation of edge-emitting semiconductor lasers with 2D photonic crystal

Single transverse and longitudinal mode operation of a broad gain stripe edge-emitting laser are realized with 2D photonic crystals. Despite an emitting width of 350 μm, we obtain narrow horizontal FFP and a single spectrum.