High-efficiency semiconductor resonant-cavity light-emittingdiodes: a review

An overview of highly efficient resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes is presented. First, the basics of dipole emission in planar cavities are reviewed. From these, a number of design rules are derived. We point out some guidelines for comparison of high-efficiency light-emitting diodes, and use these to review the state-of-the-art devices in different material systems and at different wavelengths. We also discuss some advanced techniques based on gratings or photonic crystals to improve the efficiency of these devices     

Luminous power efficiency optimization of a white organic light-emitting diode by tuning its spectrum and its extraction efficiency

We show an increase of the luminous power efficiency of a white organic light-emitting diode (LED) with three emitters by optimizing its spectrum and its extraction efficiency. To calculate this efficiency we use a model with four parameters: the spectra, extraction efficiencies, internal quantum efficiencies of three emitters, and the driving voltage. This luminous power efficiency increases by 30% by use of a spectrum close to the spectrum of the MacAdam limit. This limit gives the highest luminous efficacy for a given chromaticity. We also show that a white organic LED with an inefficient deep blue emitter can give the same luminous power efficiency as a white organic LED with a more efficient light blue emitter, because of their different fractions in the radiant flux. Tuning the extraction efficiency with a microcavity to the spectrum also increases the luminous power efficiency by 10%.     

The RC2LED: a novel resonant-cavity LED design using asymmetric resonant cavity in the outcoupling reflector

We present the concept of a novel resonant-cavity LED design where a symmetric resonant cavity (RC) is added to the outcoupling reflector. Because of the peculiar characteristics of the resulting mirror, these so-called RC²LED's have a much higher extraction efficiency into a limited NA as compared to conventional RCLED designs     

Rigorous electromagnetic analysis of dipole emission in periodically corrugated layers: the grating-assisted resonant-cavity light-emitting diode

We study the grating-assisted light-emitting diode, an LED design for high brightness based on a resonant cavity containing one- or two-dimensionally periodically corrugated layers (grating). We give in detail a generally applicable electromagnetic analysis based on the rigorous coupled-wave theory to calculate the extraction efficiency of spontaneous emission in a periodically corrugated layer structure. This general model is then specified on the grating-assisted resonant-cavity LED, showing simulated efficiencies of more than 40%.     

Out-of-plane scattering in photonic crystal slabs

Photonic crystal slabs combine a slab waveguide with an in-plane photonic crystal. Light is then confined in-plane by the photonic crystal and out-of-plane by the slab waveguide. The etched structures will cause light to scatter out of the waveguide plane. We studied the out-of-plane scattering losses using a two-dimensional approximation of this three-dimensional structure, with etched slots instead of holes. Our simulation techniques include mode expansion with perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary conditions. We show that the losses increase with higher index contrast, but that with very high-index contrasts light can be coupled into lossless Bloch modes     

Analysis of butt coupling in photonic Crystals

We present a detailed analysis of butt coupling from conventional dielectric waveguides into photonic crystal waveguides. Closed-form expressions for the reflection and transmission matrices based on an eigenmode expansion technique are derived and validated by means of simulations. We use them to investigate butt-coupling losses in two kinds of photonic crystal structures: one formed by rods with a higher refractive index than the surrounding medium and the other formed by air holes inserted in a high-refractive-index medium. The origin and difference of coupling losses between the two photonic crystal structures is analyzed and discussed. We show that, although the coupling efficiency is much worse in the former structure, it can be significantly improved by choosing the optimum interface position that minimizes the mode impedance mismatch. Furthermore, the dependence of coupling efficiency on frequency is also analyzed. Finally, we also relate some traditionally used approximate formulas to our rigorous expressions.     

A compact photonic horizontal spot-size converter realized in silicon-on-insulator

We present a compact planar coupler connecting two optical waveguides with highly different widths. The coupler consists of various nonperiodic waveguide sections, whose dimensions are determined using a genetic optimization algorithm. Efficiencies that exceed those of the more conventional designs with similar lengths, like gradual linear tapers, were obtained in silicon-on-insulator using 248-nm-deep ultraviolet lithography.     

Band-edge lasing in gold-clad photonic-crystal membranes

We investigate the possibility to achieve band-edge lasing in optically thick gold-clad photonic-crystal (PhC) membranes, with a dielectric thickness of around 1 /spl mu/m. We have performed a two-dimensional eigenmode-expansion analysis of band-edge resonators in one-dimensional PhCs. Material thresholds, quality factors, and emission efficiencies have been calculated for TE band-edge laser resonances on the second and third /spl Gamma/-point. The second /spl Gamma/-point sustains band-edge laser modes with quality factors above 2500 for a membrane thickness of 1 /spl mu/m and a cavity length of 20 periods, however, with a very poor surface-emission efficiency. Band-edge laser modes located on the third /spl Gamma/-point have lower quality factors but higher surface-emission efficiencies. In both cases, the PhC should be designed specifically to avoid coupling with lossy, higher order modes.     

Efficient nonadiabatic planar waveguide tapers

We report taper designs with high transmission efficiencies and with lengths shorter than those needed for adiabatic operation. The tapering occurs between rectangular optical waveguides with the same vertical silicon-on-insulator layer structure, but with different horizontal widths, namely 0.5 and 2.0 /spl mu/m, and for taper lengths between 0.5 and 3.0 /spl mu/m. After a comparison between two different optimization methods in a two-dimensional calculation scheme, one of these is repeated using three-dimensional calculations. The results show that, also in the length region where conventional linear and parabolic tapers are not yet adiabatic, tapers with a high efficiency can be designed by applying complex taper structures with more degrees of freedom.     

Detailed study of AlAs-oxidized apertures in VCSEL cavities foroptimized modal performance

We present a numerical optical model for calculating threshold material gain in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. It is based on a vectorial solution of Maxwell's equations and therefore gives exact results where other approaches fail, e.g., in the case of oxide-confined devices, which have high lateral index contrasts. Results are given concerning the influence of oxide window thickness and position on threshold gain and modal stability. We also propose an intuitive plane-wave model to enhance the physical understanding of these effects