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The energy-to-data ratio (EDR) was evaluated for quantum-dot based microdisk laser directly modulated without external cooling. The experimental values of EDR decrease with decreasing diameter of the microdisk and reach 1.5 pJ/bit for the smallest diameter under study (10.5 μm). In larger microdisks (with a diameter greater than 20 μm), the EDR varies in proportion to the square of the diameter. If this relationship were true for smaller microdisks as well, an EDR value of about 100 fJ would be achieved with a diameter of 4 μm. The observed deviation of EDR from the quadratic dependence on the diameter is associated with an increase in the threshold current density in smaller devices, which in turn may be caused by the contribution of nonradiative recombination on the microresonator sidewalls formed by deep etching.The energy-to-data ratio (EDR) was evaluated for quantum-dot based microdisk laser directly modulated without external cooling. The experimental values of EDR decrease with decreasing diameter of the microdisk and reach 1.5 pJ/bit for the smallest diameter under study (10.5 μm). In larger microdisks (with a diameter greater than 20 μm), the EDR varies in proportion to the square of the diameter. If this relationship were true for smaller microdisks as well, an EDR value of about 100 fJ would be achieved with a diameter of 4 μm. The observed deviation of EDR from the quadratic dependence on the diameter is associated with an increase in the threshold current density in smaller devices, which in turn may be caused by the contribution of nonradiative recombination on the microresonator sidewalls formed by deep etching.

We present detailed studies of optically pumped InAs/InGaAs quantum dot based racetrack microlasers with 3.5-μm bend radius operating at room temperature. Q factor over 8000 and room temperature threshold power in the mW-range were achieved in the racetrack microlasers with straight section length ranging from 0 to 4 μm. A systematic investigation of the influence of the racetrack straight section length on spatial distribution of optical modes is presented. The microcavity eigenmodes and electromagnetic field distribution calculated by means of three-dimensional numerical simulation demonstrate a good agreement with the experimental results obtained by micro-photoluminescence and scanning near-field optical microscopy. The racetracks demonstrate zigzagging behavior of the modes inside the cavity and the energy switching between the radial maxima in second-order modes. Higher-order modes are found to be suppressed in micro-photoluminescence spectra.

The gain compression coefficient was evaluated by applying the frequency modulation/amplitude modulation technique in a distributed feedback InAs/InGaAs quantum dot laser. A strong dependence of the gain compression coefficient on the output power was found. Our analysis of the gain compression within the frame of the modified well-barrier hole burning model reveals that the gain compression coefficient decreases beyond the lasing threshold, which is in a good agreement with the experimental observations.