Electrically controlled photonic crystal nanocavity sources and modulators

We report recent advances in electrically controlled photonic crystal nanocavity light sources and modulators, including an electrically pumped laser with 181nA threshold, an ultrafast single-mode LED with sub-fJ/bit operation energy, and modulator with 0.2 fJ/bit modulation energy. Additionally, we model the electrical and thermal performance of the lateral p-i-n geometry utilized in these devices, determining design criteria for efficient electrical injection and finding minimal self-heating.