Single-mode 1.3-μm photonic crystal vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

We report the use of a photonic crystal in a 1.3-mum vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser to achieve single fundamental-mode operation. A focused ion beam was used to mill the photonic crystal into a top dielectric distributed Bragg reflector. The laser operated continuous-wave at room temperature with greater than 1 mW of single-mode output power observed with a sidemode suppression ratio of more than 37 dB and little change to the electrical properties of the device