Photonic crystal band edge laser array with a holographically generated square-lattice pattern

We fabricated a photonic band edge laser array based on a two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystal (PC) slab waveguide using a laser holography (LH) method, instead of the commonly used electron-beam lithography (EBL). The nature of the LH process enabled high-throughput large-area fabrication of band edge lasers. Moreover, the laser performance was comparable to that of reported EBL counterparts. Careful examination of the spectral positions of the observed modes with respect to the calculated photonic band structure identified three main band edge modes as the origins of lasing: M2, X2, and M1. Owing to the gradual change in the air-hole size of the PC, the lasing modes shifted monotonically along the laser array, resulting in an M1 mode span of similar to 30 nm (centered at 1550 nm) over a distance of 5 mm.(C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.