Polymer microring lasers with longitudinal optical pumping

We propose an optical pumping scheme for microring cavity lasers. The pump beam is end-fire coupled into the optical fiber that supports the microring cavity. When propagating along the fiber, the pump light is coupled into and excites the gain medium in the microring. We have demonstrated that this pumping geometry leads to an enhanced slope efficiency and significant reduction of the lasing threshold. In addition, as the excitation of the gain medium is uniform, certain effects that are prone to occur in the usual transversal pumping configuration because of nonuniform excitation can be avoided. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.