GaAs micro-pyramids serving as optical micro-cavities

An efficient light-matter coupling requires high-quality (Q) micro-cavities with small mode volume. We suggest GaAs micro-pyramids placed on top of AlAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors to be promising candidates. The pyramids were fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxy, electron-beam lithography and a subsequent wet-chemical etching process using a sacrificial AlAs layer. Measured Q-factors of optical modes in single pyramids reach values up to 650. A finite-difference time-domain simulation assuming a simplified cone-shaped geometry suggests possible Q-factors up to 3600. To enhance the light confinement in the micro-pyramids we intend to overgrow the pyramidal facets with a Bragg mirror--results of preliminary tests are given.