Lasing characteristics of InAs quantum dot microcavity lasers as a function of temperature and wavelength

A Strong temperature dependence of microdisk lasers and photonic crystal nanocavity lasers with InAs quantum dot active regions is reported. These lasers operate at 1.3 mu m at room temperature under optical pumping conditions. T-0, microdisk = 31 K. T0, photonic crystal nanocavity = 14 K. The lasing threshold dependence on the lasing wavelength is also reported. We observe a minimum absorbed threshold pump power of 9 mu W. This temperature and wavelength dependent lasing behavior is explained qualitatively by a simple model which attributes the experimental observations predominantly to surface recombination at threshold and the high quality factors of these cavities. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.