Room temperature continuous wave operation and controlled spontaneous emission in ultrasmall photonic crystal nanolaser

Photonic crystal slab enables us to form an ultrasmall laser cavity with a modal volume close to the diffraction limit of light. However, the thermal resistance of such nanolasers, as high as 10(6) K/W, has prevented continuous-wave operation at room temperature. The present paper reports on the first successful continuous-wave operation at room temperature for the smallest nanolaser reported to date, achieved through fabrication of a laser with a low threshold of 1.2 mu W. Near-thresholdless lasing and spontaneous emission enhancement due to the Purcell effect are also demonstrated in a moderately low Q nanolaser, both of which are well explained by a detailed rate equation analysis. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.