Short-pulse high-power operation of photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers introducing refractive index gradation

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H02655
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 30020:Optical engineering and photon science-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Inoue Takuya 京都大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (70793800)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: フォトニック結晶 / フォトニック結晶レーザー / 短パルス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we have proposed a new method to generate short optical pulses with high peak powers by introducing a refractive-index gradation (or band-edge frequency gradation) in photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs). By employing this method, we have realized short-pulse, high-peak-power lasing oscillation with a pulse width of less than several tens of picoseconds and a peak power of several hundreds of watts from a single light source without using an external amplifier. The short-pulse PCSELs developed in this study are potentially useful for a wide variety of applications such as high-precision eye-safe laser sensing, non-thermal laser microprocessing, bioimaging, and intersatellite optical communications.

Free Research Field

光量子電子工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、フォトニック結晶構造への屈折率（周波数）勾配の導入という、従来の半導体レーザーの短パルス化の手法とは全く異なる手法の提案・実証に成功した点で、大きな学術的意義を有するといえる。また、本研究で実証に成功した、パルス幅数10ps未満、ピーク出力数100W以上の短パルス・高ピーク出力フォトニック結晶レーザーは、自動運転を支えるLiDARとよばれるレーザーを用いた測距センサをはじめとして、多岐に亘る用途への応用展開を可能にする点で、大きな社会的意義を有する。