Ultimate vertical Fabry-Perot cavity based on single-layer photonic crystal mirrors

Vertical Fabry Perot cavities (VFPC) have been extensively studied, especially for the realization of vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). They are traditionally composed of two Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBR) which reflectivity has to be sufficient in order to obtain highly resonant cavity, which is particularly necessary for laser emission in VCSELs. As a consequence, DBRs consist generally in very thick layer stacks. In this paper, we demonstrate the smallest conceivable high Q vertical Fabry-Perot cavity, using ultra-thin and highly-efficient photonic crystal slab mirrors instead of conventional DBRs, which enable moreover a control of the polarization.