Continuous wave photonic crystal laser in ultraviolet range

It is shown that photonic band-gap (PBG) structures have great potential for the development of widely tunable continues wave and/or mode-locked ultrashort-pulse all-solid-stale lasers in UV and optical ranges. The basic idea is to decrease the laser threshold via inhibition of radiative decay of an upper laser level by embedding an active medium into spatial structure having PBG at the frequency of laser transition. This technique provides favorable conditions for coherent suppression of the excited state absorption crucial for short-wavelength solid-state lasing. It also resolves the laser gain dilemma, providing combination of high emission cross-section and large population inversion. Different designs of 2D and 3D photonic crystal laser are proposed.