Monolithic integration of III-V nanowire with photonic crystal microcavity for vertical light emission

A novel photonic structure formed by the monolithic integration of a vertical III-V nanowire on top of a L3 two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity is proposed to enhance light emission from the nanowire. The impact on the nanowire spontaneous emission rate is evaluated by calculating the spontaneous emission factor beta, and the material gain at threshold is used as a figure of merit of this vertical emitting nanolaser. An optimal design is identified for a GaAs nanowire geometry with r = 155 nm and L similar to 1.1 mu m, where minimum gain at threshold (g(th) similar to 13x10(3) cm(-1)) and large spontaneous emission factor (beta similar to 0.3) are simultaneously achieved. Modification of the directivity of the L3 photonic crystal cavity via the band-folding principle is employed to further optimize the far-field radiation pattern and to increase the directivity of the device. These results lay the foundation for a new approach toward large-scale integration of vertical emitting nanolasers and may enable applications such as intra-chip optical interconnects. (C)2012 Optical Society of America