Erbium doped two dimensional photonic crystals for band edge lasing

Photonic crystal structures have become increasingly popular due to their unique optical properties. In particular, photonic crystal band edge lasers have shown continually improving performance. In this paper, the development of an erbium doped two dimensional dielectric photonic crystal band-edge laser is reported. A computational study using the plane wave expansion method is performed to optimise the structural properties of square and triangular arrays of air holes in an erbium doped rutile titanium dioxide matrix for optical performance. Complete photonic band gaps adjacent to the third orthogonal band for both the square and triangular lattice patterns were achieved for r=0.46a and r=0.51a respectively. The monopole electric field distribution and narrow saddle point in the Γ direction for the third orthogonal band of the triangular lattice suggest that highly directional emission of TM polarization can be achieved. The preliminary experiments for fabrication of the 2D photonic crystals using a two beam interference lithography technique provides time efficient patterning over many square centimeters.