Increasing the coupling efficiency of a microdisk laser to waveguides by using well designed spiral structures

In this article, we optimize the coupling efficiency from a GaAs microdisk resonator into a single mode spiral waveguide. A classical microdisk resonator coupling light into a nonevanescent straight waveguide reaches a typical coupling efficiency of 67%. We show that the introduction of a spiral waveguide that works both as a waveguide and circular Bragg reflector can improve such efficiency to almost 90%. The same structure with the addition of a taper can couple up to 80% of the generated power into a slot waveguide.