Propagation loss measurements in semiconductor microcavity ring and disk resonators

We report the measurement of cavity propagation losses in nearly single-mode semiconductor waveguide-coupled ring and disk microcavity optical resonators. Using a novel 10.5-/spl mu/m-diameter ring resonator, we measure transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) field intensity losses in 0.35-/spl mu/m-wide ring waveguide cavities in the 1.55-/spl mu/m-wavelength region. We present the experimental results for nanofabricated AlGaAs-GaAs 10.5-/spl mu/m-diameter ring and disk resonators to quantify cavity losses and to show the feasibility of these promising and robust submicron-scale devices.