Abstract

Enhanced light extraction is obtained from a light-emitting diode (LED) containing a two-dimensional (2D) photonic band gap (PBG) crystal. The 2D photonic crystal prohibits the propagation of light within a certain range of frequencies in the plane of the PBG.¹² Several methods to modify light emission using a 2D photonic crystal have been studied.^3,4 A 2D PBG is fabricated in the top cladding layer of an InGaP/InGaAs quantum well structure that emits at λ = 980 nm. The photonic crystal is designed such that the emission wavelength lies inside the photonic band gap eliminating the coupling to lateral guided modes within the semiconductor, that is a major source of loss in conventional LEDs. In our experiments, the surface normal photoluminescence (PL) at 980 nm is enhanced by a factor of 6 in the presence of a photonic crystal.

© 2000 Optical Society of America