Mode Analysis for Equilateral-Triangle-Resonator Microlasers with Metal Confinement Layers

Mode characteristics are analyzed for electrically injected equilateral-triangle-resonator (ETR) semiconductor microlasers, which are laterally confined by insulating barrier SiO₂ and electrode metals Ti-Au. For the ETR without metal layers, the totally confined mode field patterns are derived based on the reflection phase shifts, and the Q -factors are calculated from the far-field emission of the analytical near field distribution, which are agreement very well with the numerical results of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The polarization dependence reflections for light rays incident on semiconductor- SiO₂-Ti-Au multi-layer structures are accounted in considering the confinement of TE and TM modes in the ETR with the metal layers. The reflectivity will greatly reduce with a Ti layer between SiO₂ and Au for light rays with incident angle less than 30deg especially for the TE mode, even the thickness of the Ti layer is only 10 nm. If the ETR is laterally confined by SiO₂ -Au layers without the Ti layer, the Fabry-PEacuterot type modes with an incident angle of zero on one side of the ETR can also have high Q-factor. The FDTD simulation for the ETR confined by metal layers verifies the above analysis based on multi-layer reflections. The output spectra with mode intervals of whispering-gallery modes and Fabry-Perot type modes are observed from different ETR lasers with side length of 10 mum, respectively.