LETTERS

PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2 MAY 2010 | DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2010.118

On-chip beam-steering photonic-crystal lasers

Yoshitaka Kurosaka1,2, Seita Iwahashi1,2, Yong Liang1,2, Kyosuke Sakai1,2,3, Eiji Miyai1,2,4,
Wataru Kunishi1,2,4, Dai Ohnishi1,2,4 and Susumu Noda1,2,5 *

The development of semiconductor lasers with on-chip con- a Air hole b

trollability of the beam direction is important for a wide range

Frequency (c/a)
of applications, including mobile laser projection displays1, 0.30
advanced laser printers2 and chip-to-chip optical communi-
cation3. Here, we report a novel concept to realize such beam-
Γ−X2
steering lasers using photonic crystals. Our idea is based on 0.29
the generation of artificial lasing band edges in the photonic a
band structure, which determine the resonant condition and Γ−X1 a 0.2 0.1 0
Wave vector (2π/a)
output beam direction4–12. We show that the lasing band edge X1 Γ
can be tuned by using a composite photonic-crystal structure c Air hole
composed of both square and rectangular lattices, and by d

varying their relative lattice constants. We demonstrate that
lasers based on such composite photonic-crystal structures
are able to emit beams in a range of directions that can be
dynamically controlled by on-chip integration.
To date, the output beam direction of semiconductor lasers has
generally been controlled using external mechanical systems that
incorporate components such as a galvanometer and polygon
mirrors. Because these mechanical systems limit the speed, size
and lifetime of the system, on-chip control of the beam direction
has long remained a dream. Several approaches13–15 have been pro-
posed towards achieving this goal, based on the concept of inte-
grated twin-stripe lasers for which the relative phases are changed
by adjusting the injection currents to each laser individually; the
emitted far-field angle can thus be varied. However, the
maximum beam-steering angle du that could be obtained was
small compared to the original beam divergence angle udiv; the
ratio du/udiv was at most 2–3, and increasing this value appears
to be difficult using this method. In this Letter, we propose and
demonstrate a completely different approach to controlling the
beam direction of semiconductor lasers by using two-dimensional
photonic crystals and thus enabling a much larger du/udiv ratio
of 30. More specifically, we have achieved a maximum beam-
steering angle of +308 while maintaining a narrow beam divergence
angle of 18.
Two-dimensional photonic crystals, in which the refractive index
follows a two-dimensional periodic distribution, can form a
two-dimensional broad-area cavity mode at the photonic band
edges4–12,16–19. The group velocity of light here becomes zero, and
light waves propagating in several directions are coupled with
each other to form the two-dimensional cavity mode. Lasers
based on two-dimensional photonic crystals can therefore operate
in a perfect single mode over a broad area. By choosing an appropri-
ate band edge, the lasing output can be emitted in the direction
normal to the photonic-crystal surface4,6–8,18,19. Owing to the two-
dimensional coherent oscillation nature of such lasers, narrow
beam divergence angles of 18 can be achieved. In the case of a
square-lattice photonic crystal with triangular air holes20 (Fig. 1a),
for which the photonic band structure is shown in Fig. 1b, the
band edge at the G-point indicated by the red circle enables such
Frequency (c/a)
0.30
δk
Γ−X2
0.29
0.167
Γ−X1 0.2 0.1 0
Wave vector (2π/a)
X1 Γ
a a' a'
a a
Figure 1 | Schematic representations and photonic band structures of a
composite photonic crystal composed of square and rectangular lattice
structures. a, Schematic of a photonic crystal with a square lattice structure
composed of triangular air holes. Because of the asymmetric nature of the
air holes, the two different G–X directions are distinguished as G–X1 and
G–X2. b, Corresponding band structure for the G–X1 direction, in which the
band edge at the G-point indicated by the red circle enables surface
emission. c, Schematic of a composite photonic crystal composed of both
square (dimensions a × a) and rectangular (dimensions a′ × a) lattice
structures. d, Corresponding band structure calculated for a ¼ 297 nm and
a′ ¼ 446 nm. A new band edge is formed at the point indicated by the red
circle, which is shifted from the G-point by dk ¼ 0.167 [2p/a].
surface-emitting, two-dimensional lasing oscillation. Note that,
because of the asymmetric nature of the triangular air holes,
it is necessary to distinguish the two G–X directions as G–X1
and G–X2 , as shown in Fig. 1a; the band structure for the G–X1
direction is shown in Fig. 1b. A detailed description of how such
two-dimensional photonic-crystal lasers operate, including the
optical coupling phenomena inside the device, is given in the
Supplementary Information.
To achieve the function of beam steering, it is important to be
able to arbitrarily shift the emission direction away from the
normal direction. It is thus necessary to make the lasing band
edge deviate from the G-point. More specifically, if a lasing band
edge can be formed that deviates from the G-point by a wavenumber
dk, the emission direction is shifted by an angle du ¼+sin21(dk/k0)

1
Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan, 2 Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan,
3
Pioneering Research Unit for Next Generation, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8245, Japan, 4 Photonics Research and Development Center, ROHM, Kyoto
615-8585, Japan, 5 Photonics and Electronics Science and Engineering Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan. *e-mail: snoda@kuee.kyoto-u.ac.jp

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LETTERS NATURE PHOTONICS DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2010.118

a a 960 b 960

Wavelength (nm)
Wavelength (nm)
970 970

980 980

990 990
Γ−X2 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0
Wave vector (2π/a) Wave vector (2π/a)
X1 Γ X1 Γ
Γ−X1 500 nm c
960 d 960

Wavelength (nm)

Wavelength (nm)
b ~1,000 μm p-electrode consisting of 970 970
~300 μm multiple (30−40)
980 980
elements
Active layer 990 990
50 μm
17 μm GaAs substrate 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0
Wave vector (2π/a) Wave vector (2π/a)
X1 Γ X1 Γ
n-electrode
Γ−X2
e 960 f 960

Wavelength (nm)

Wavelength (nm)
Γ−X1
970 970
3 μm
p-electrode 980 980
Composite 990 990
photonic crystal
layer 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0
Active layer Wave vector (2π/a) Wave vector (2π/a)
X1 Γ X1 Γ

GaAs substrate
n-electrode
Figure 2 | Fabricated composite photonic crystal and device structure.
a, Scanning microscope image of a portion of the fabricated composite
photonic crystal with a ¼ 294 nm and a′ ≈ 328 nm. In a single layer, the
square and rectangular lattice structures were formed successfully.
b, Finished device structure containing the photonic crystal. The inset shows
the detailed cross-sectional structure, including the electrodes and both the
active and photonic-crystal layers (see main text for details).
from the normal direction, where k0¼ 2p/l0 (l0 is the wavelength
in vacuum). Moreover, if dk can be tuned arbitrarily, the emission
direction can be controlled as desired, which leads to the realization
of beam-steering functionality. Here, we propose a laser based on a
composite photonic crystal composed of square and rectangular
lattice structures, as shown in Fig. 1c. The square lattice crystal
has a lattice constant a in both the G–X1 and G–X2 directions, but
the rectangular-lattice crystal has a lattice constant a′ in the G–X1
direction and a in the G–X2 direction. The composite photonic-
crystal structure then has two fundamental reciprocal lattice vectors
G1(|G1| ¼ 2p/a) and G1′ (|G1′ | ¼ 2p/a′ ) in the G–X1 direction, and
a single fundamental reciprocal lattice vector G2(|G2| ¼ 2p/a) in
the G–X2 direction. The reciprocal lattice vectors G1 and G1′ are
expected to modify the diffraction of light inside the crystal and
produce a new band edge that can be shifted from the G-point.
Figure 1d shows the calculated photonic band structure for a
composite photonic crystal with a ¼ 297 nm and a′ ¼ 446 nm. It
is clearly seen that a new band edge is formed (indicated by the
red circle) at a point deviating from the G-point by a wavenumber
dk ¼ |(G12G1′ )/2| ¼ p(1/a 21/a′ ) ¼ 0.167 [2p/a]. Details of the
mechanism by which this new band edge is generated, the optical
coupling phenomena involved, and the band-structure calculation
are given in the Supplementary Information.
Encouraged by the above prediction, we developed a composite
photonic crystal consisting of square and rectangular lattice struc-
tures. The square lattice constant was basically fixed at a value a,
but slightly modified (for details see Supplementary Information),
Figure 3 | Measured photonic band structures. a,c,e, Measured band
structures for adjacent pairs of p-electrode elements with dk ¼ 0.05 (a),
0.10 (c) and 0.15 [2p/a] (e). New band edges (indicated by red circles)
are formed, the positions of which are increasingly shifted from the G-point
as the difference in lattice constants increases. b,d,f, Measured band
structures for separately fabricated devices with fixed values of dk ¼ 0.05
(b), 0.10 (d) and 0.15 [2p/a] (f).
whereas the rectangular lattice constant a′ in the G–X1 direction
was varied continuously to tune the value of dk ¼ |(G12G1′ )/2| ¼
p(1/a 21/a′ ). Figure 2a presents a scanning microscope image of
a portion of the composite photonic crystal with an a lattice con-
stant of 294 nm and an a′ lattice constant of 328 nm. The compo-
site photonic crystal was formed on an active layer; further
processing resulted in the device shown schematically in Fig. 2b.
The top p-electrode consists of multiple elements, each with dimen-
sions 17 × 50 mm2 and separated by intervals of 3 mm, and the
bottom n-electrode consists of a single element. In total, 30–40
p-electrode elements were formed on a single chip in the G–X1
direction. The net length of the device was 1,000 mm in the
G–X1 direction and 300 mm in the G–X2 direction.
The strategy to achieve the beam-steering function is twofold.
The first step is to excite adjacent pairs of p-electrode elements
sequentially. Each pair selects a portion of the device area with a
certain dk. Therefore, scanning across all element pairs of the
device should display discrete (or coarse) changes of the emission
angle across the entire range of the device. The second step is to
enable continuous tuning of dk (and therefore the emission angle)
by balancing the current injection levels of multiple, adjacent p-elec-
trode elements. This is possible because of the continuous, smooth
change of the rectangular lattice constant a′ throughout the
entire device.
Before describing the details of the above two-step strategy, we
first explain the measurement results of the band structure of
various excited areas of the device to show that the artificial band
edge can indeed be formed at dk away from the G-point. Here,
the resonant coupling of light from the active layer21 to the bands
of the two-dimensional composite photonic-crystal structure was
measured. For a given frequency, resonant coupling occurs when

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NATURE PHOTONICS DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2010.118 LETTERS
b c
δk = 0.038 δk = 0.038

Output power (mW)

30
a

Intensity (a. u.)

δk
(2π/a)
60° 20
0.15
10

0
0.13 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 950 960 970 980 990
Current (A) Wavelength (nm)

L R d Current ratio L R
Ia : Ib : Ic : Id
0.10 0: 0 : 1.00 : 1.00
0 : 0.05 : 1.00 : 0.95
0 : 0.10 : 1.00 : 0.90
0 : 0.15 : 1.00 : 0.85
0 : 0.20 : 1.00 : 0.80
0 : 0.25 : 1.00 : 0.75
0 : 0.30 : 1.00 : 0.70
0 : 0.35 : 1.00 : 0.65
0 : 0.40 : 1.00 : 0.60
0 : 0.45 : 1.00 : 0.55

Intensity (a.u.)

Intensity (a.u.)
0 : 0.50 : 1.00 : 0.50
0 : 0.60 : 1.00 : 0.40
0 : 0.70 : 1.00 : 0.30
0.05 0 : 0.80 : 1.00 : 0.20
0 : 0.90 : 1.00 : 0.10
0 : 1.00 : 1.00 : 0
0.038 0.10 : 1.00 : 0.90 : 0
0.20 : 1.00 : 0.80 : 0
0.30 : 1.00 : 0.70 : 0
0 0.40 : 1.00 : 0.60 : 0
0.50 : 1.00 : 0.50 : 0
−50 0 50 0.60 : 1.00 : 0.40 : 0
Angle, δθ (deg) 0.70 : 1.00 : 0.30 : 0
0.80 : 1.00 : 0.20 : 0
0.90 : 1.00 : 0.10 : 0
1.00 : 1.00 : 0 : 0
−25 −20 20 25
Angle, δθ (deg) Angle, δθ (deg)

Figure 4 | Beam-steering functionality and lasing characteristics. a, Measured beam angles, in which the excited pairs of p-electrodes on the chip were
scanned sequentially to tune the value of dk from 0 to 0.15 [2p/a] in the G–X1 direction. b, Representative current–light output characteristic.
c, Representative lasing spectrum. d, Continuous tuning of beam-steering angle. The balance of the current injection levels of two to three adjacent
p-electrodes was gradually changed. The current injection levels of individual electrodes are denoted as Ia , Ib , Ic and Id , and the ratios of these current
injection levels are shown in the figure panel. R and L represent the right and left lobes of emitted twin beams. The beam emission angle (indicated by the
green solid line) is steered smoothly and continuously from the initial position (indicated by the broken red line).

the in-plane wave vector of the light matches the wave vector of the
photonic bands. In spontaneous emission spectra, this coupling can
be observed as a sharp peak. By varying the measurement angle with
respect to the direction normal to the plane, the photonic bands can
be mapped out around the G-point. The results for three represen-
tative cases are shown in Fig. 3a,c,e. The measurements were per-
formed in the G–X1 direction, where the two adjacent electrode
elements that had underlying photonic crystals with dk ¼
p(1/a 21/a′ ) values of 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 [2p/a] were
driven. It is seen that new band edges are indeed formed, the pos-
itions of which (indicated by red circles) are increasingly shifted
from the G-point as the difference between a and a′ increases.
Furthermore, as discussed below, we have confirmed that lasing
oscillation occurs at these band edges. However, we note that the
observed band edges are not as well defined as in the theoretical
band structure shown in Fig. 1d. This is because the device was fab-
ricated with continuously changing values of a′ , which leads to a
broadening of dk and less distinct band edges. Figure 3b,d,f shows
the measured band structures of devices that were fabricated separ-
ately with fixed values of dk ¼ 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 [2p/a]. The band
structures and edges are now much better defined.
We then investigated the beam-steering functionality of our
device based on our strategy. As explained above, we used a
two-step approach to achieve this beam-steering function. First,
we excited adjacent pairs of p-electrodes sequentially to select and
scan the value of dk within the device from 0 to 0.15 [2p/a] in
the G–X1 direction. The results are shown in Fig. 4a, in which dis-
crete 18 changes to the emission angle are clearly seen. This indi-
cates that on-chip control of the output beam direction has been
successfully achieved. Figure 4b and c shows representative results
for the current–light output characteristic and lasing spectrum,
respectively. The typical pump current required for lasing oscillation
was 100 mA, although it varied slightly for different beam-steering
angles. The lasing wavelength remained constant at 970 nm, and
the linewidth was less than 0.2 nm (measurement resolution),
regardless of steering angle. At each angle, twin beams are
emitted, which is essentially due to the symmetric nature of the
device structure, and the angles of the twin beams vary in similar
fashion to a pair of car windscreen wipers, which is considered
useful for various applications. Under certain excitation conditions,
the device emitted twin beams with asymmetric intensities (see,
for example, the results for dk ¼ 0.13 [2p/a]). This phenomenon
seems to be due to unintentionally introduced asymmetry in the
device and suggests that if asymmetry could be introduced
intentionally, the steering of a single beam could also be achieved.
We obtained a maximum value of du/udiv of 30, which is more

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LETTERS
than one order of magnitude greater than that achieved using
previous approaches13–15.
We then proceeded to the second step, in which we made use of a
more sophisticated feature of our device based on the continuous
nature of dk. We excited two to three adjacent p-electrodes and
changed the balance of the current injection levels of individual
electrodes, so that the electromagnetic field distribution inside the
excited area could be controlled continuously. This enabled us to
smoothly change the effective value of dk of the excited area.
Figure 4d shows an example of the experimental results. The emis-
sion angle has been changed continuously and smoothly between
the discrete emission angles of 18 obtained in Fig. 4a. We have
also confirmed that the same results have been achieved over the
entire emission angle range of the device. From these results, we
can state that our on-chip device can realize a very smooth beam-
steering operation in addition to coarse (or discrete) operation.
Finally, we discuss the effect of spatial change of the excited area
of the device, which is necessary for the beam-steering operation, on
practical applications. Because the length of one segment of p-elec-
trode is 17 mm and the spacing of each segment is 3 mm in the G–X1
direction, as described above, the spatial change of the excited area
in moving over one segment is 20 mm. We believe that such a small
spatial change will not affect practical applications. For example, in
application to mobile-laser projection displays, in which a target
screen is placed 10 cm away from the sample surface, the above
spatial change of 20 mm will give an additional angle shift of
0.018 to the designed beam-steering angle of 18. Therefore,
the effect of the spatial change on the total steering angle is as
small as 1%. Moreover, the small shift of 1% can be compen-
sated by making use of the fine tunability of the emission angle of
the device.
In conclusion, we have proposed and demonstrated a novel
concept, based on photonic crystals, that allows beam-steering func-
tional lasers to be realized. We have shown that an artificial lasing
band edge, which determines the beam direction, can be formed
by constructing a composite photonic crystal composed of square
and rectangular lattices. Lasers based on such composite photonic-
crystal structures can emit beams over a range of directions, which
can be scanned smoothly and continuously by on-chip integration.
The maximum change in the output beam direction with respect to
the original beam divergence angle was as high as 30. In the future,
we could use an integrated electronic circuit (IC) to control current
injection levels in all the electrodes, enabling even more advanced
beam control. For example, any desired angled emissions (including
simultaneous, or independent, multi-directional emissions) and
their on-demand control could be achieved. We believe that this
work will have a wide-reaching effect on a range of applications
including ultra-compact mobile-laser displays, chip-to-chip
optical communication, laser-radar sensing systems22, advanced
laser printers and even laser knives embedded in capsules for
medical procedures23.
Received 4 November 2009; accepted 31 March 2010;
published online 2 May 2010
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Acknowledgements
This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid and the Global Center of Excellence
(G-COE) programme of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology of Japan.
Author contributions
S.N. supervised the project. S.N. and Y.K. conceived and designed the experiments. Y.K., S.I.
and Y.L., together with W.K. and D.O., performed the experiments. S.N.,Y.K., S.I., Y.L., K.S.
and E.M. analysed the data. S.N. and Y.K. wrote the paper with K.S. and E.M.
Additional information
The authors declare no competing financial interests. Supplementary information
accompanies this paper at www.nature.com/naturephotonics. Reprints and permission
information is available online at http://npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions/.
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to S.N.
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