Single-Emitter Laser in a Photonic Band Gap Micro-Chip

Abstract

We study a laser consisting of a coherently pumped two-level emitter coupled to both a multimode waveguide channel and a high-quality micro-cavity embedded within a photonic crystal. One mode is engineered to exhibit a sharp cutoff within the PBG, leading to a large discontinuity in the local photon density of states near the atom. Another mode of the waveguide channel is used to propagate the pump beam. The cavity field characteristics are highly distinct from those of a corresponding high-Q cavity in ordinary vacuum. We demonstrate strong enhancement of the cavity field, better coherence, and narrower emission spectrum resulting from the radiation reservoir of the photonic crystal