Emission properties of a defect cavity in a two-dimensional photonic bandgap crystal slab

A single isolated defect within a two-dimensional photonic crystal semiconductor slab is shown to provide a lithographically tunable doubly degenerate emission resonance within the photonic bandgap, with a measured quality factor (Q) of 80–150, depending on the cavity geometry. Spontaneous emission outside the cavity linewidth is below the measurement limit of our system. Stimulated emission from this photonic crystal defect cavity is demonstrated at room temperature under pulsed optical pumping in spite of the large surface-to-volume ratio of this cavity and the associated large nonradiative surface recombination rate.