Coupled-wave analysis for photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers on air holes with arbitrary sidewalls

The coupled-wave theory (CWT) is extended to a photonic crystal structure with arbitrary sidewalls, and a simple, fast, and effective model for the quantitatively analysis of the radiative characteristics of two-dimensional (2D) photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PC-SELs) has been developed. For illustrating complicated coupling effects accurately, sufficient numbers of waves are included in the formulation, by considering their vertical field profiles. The radiation of band-edge modes is analyzed for two in-plane air-hole geometries, in the case of two types of sidewalls: i.e. "tapered case" and "tilted case." The results of CWT analysis agree well with the results of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical simulation. From the analytical solutions of the CWT, the symmetry properties of the band-edge modes are investigated. In-plane asymmetry of the air holes is crucial for achieving high output power because it causes partial constructive interference. Asymmetric air holes and tilted sidewalls help in inducing in-plane asymmetries. By breaking the symmetries with respect to the two orthogonal symmetric axes of the band-edge modes, the two factors can be tuned independently, so that the radiation power is enhanced while preserving the mode selectivity performance. Finally, top-down reactive ion etching (RIE) approach is suggested for the fabrication of such a structure.