Large mode-volume, large beta, photonic crystal laser resonator

We propose an optical resonator formed from the coupling of 13, L2 defects in a triangular-lattice photonic crystal slab. Using a tight-binding formalism, we optimized the coupled-defect cavity design to obtain a resonator with predicted single-mode operation, a mode volume five times that of an L2-cavity mode and a beta factor of 0.39. The results are confirmed using finite-difference time domain simulations. This resonator is very promising for use as a single mode photonic crystal vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with high saturation output power compared to a laser consisting of one of the single-defect cavities