GaN photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser at blue-violet wavelengths

Shorter- wavelength surface- emitting laser sources are important for a variety of fields, including photonics, information processing, and biology. We report on the creation of a current- driven blueviolet photonic- crystal surface- emitting laser. We have developed a fabrication method, named air holes retained overgrowth, in order to construct a two- dimensional gallium nitride ( GaN)/air photonic- crystal structure. The resulting periodic structure has a photonic- crystal band- edge effect sufficient for the successful operation of a current- injection surface- emitting laser. This represents an important step in the development of laser sources that could be focused to a size much less than the wavelength and be integrated two- dimensionally at such short wavelengths.