The single-longitudinal-mode operation of a ridge waveguide laser based on two-dimensional photonic crystals

An electrically driven, single-longitudinal-mode GaAs based photonic crystal (PC) ridge waveguide (RWG) laser emitting at around 850 nm is demonstrated. The single-longitudinal-mode lasing characteristic with a single wavelength is achieved by introducing the PC to the RWG laser. The triangle PC is etched on both sides of the ridge by photolithography and inductive coupled plasma (ICP) etching. The lasing spectra of the RWG lasers with and without the PC are studied, and the result shows that the PC purifies the longitudinal mode. The power/facet and current-voltage characteristics have also been studied and compared.