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Control of lasing in fully chaotic open microcavities by tailoring the shape factor
We demonstrate experimentally that lasing in a semiconductor microstadium can
be optimized by controlling its shape. Under spatially uniform optical pumping,
the first lasing mode in a GaAs microstadium with large major-to-minor-axis
ratio usually corresponds to a high-quality scar mode consisting of several
unstable periodic orbits. Interference of waves propagating along the
constituent orbits may minimize light leakage at particular major-to-minor-axis
ratio. By making stadium of the optimum shape, we are able to maximize the mode
quality factor and align the mode frequency to the peak of the gain spectrum,
thus minimizing the lasing threshold. This work opens the door to control
chaotic microcavity lasers by tailoring the shape factor
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