Correction: Yoshie, T. et al. Optical Microcavity: Sensing down to Single Molecules and Atoms. Sensors 2011, 11, 1972–1991

The coefficient of the expression of Equation (6) was not properly written

Photonic crystals for confining, guiding, and emitting light

We show that by using the photonic crystals, we can confine, guide, and emit light efficiently. By precise control over the geometry and three-dimensional design, it is possible to obtain high quality optical devices with extremely small dimensions. Here we describe examples of high-Q optical nanocavities, photonic crystal waveguides, and surface plasmon enhanced light-emitting diode (LEDs)

Visible two-dimensional photonic crystal slab laser

The authors describe the fabrication and performance of photonic crystal lasers fabricated within thin membranes of InGaP/InGaAlP quantum well material and emitting in the visible wavelength range. These lasers have ultrasmall mode volumes, emit red light, and exhibit low threshold powers. They can be lithographically tuned from 650 to 690 nm. Their cavity volumes of approximately 0.01 µm3 are ideally suited for use as spectroscopic sources

Low-threshold photonic crystal laser

We have fabricated photonic crystal nanocavity lasers, based on a high-quality factor design that incorporates fractional edge dislocations. Lasers with InGaAsP quantum well active material emitting at 1550 nm were optically pumped with 10 ns pulses, and lased at threshold pumping powers below 220 µW, the lowest reported for quantum-well based photonic crystal lasers, to our knowledge. Polarization characteristics and lithographic tuning properties were found to be in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions

High quality two-dimensional photonic crystal slab cavities

We have fabricated and characterized donor-mode nanocavities formed by a single defect cavity defined within a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab. Quantum dots emitting in the 1.1-1.3 micron range were used as luminescence sources, and a design using fractional edge dislocations was used to demonstrate well-confined dipole modes with high quality factors. By applying the fractional dislocation geometry, the measured quality factor could be increased to values as high as 2800. This compares with typical quality factors of around 1500 measured from more conventional shallow donor mode cavities with larger mode volumes

Optical characterization of two-dimensional photonic crystal cavities with indium arsenide quantum dot emitters

We have characterized the modes within two-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavities with self-organized indium arsenide quantum dots as an active material. Highly localized donor mode resonances with 3 to 5 nm linewidth were observed when spatially selective optical pumping the cavities. These modes could be lithographically tuned from 1100 to 1300 nm. Other, more extended modes, were also characterized and exhibited narrower resonance linewidths ranging from 0.6 to 2 nm

Photonic crystal defect microcavities with indium arsenide quantum dots

The coupling of InAs QDs emission to the two dimensional photonic crystal defect cavity has been demonstrated for the first time and a narrow filtered emission linewidth could be observed. We describe the emission from 2D photonic crystals that contain an InAs QDs active layer. The epitaxial layers were grown on (001) GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy

Near-field scanning optical microscopy of photonic crystal nanocavities

Near-field scanning optical microscopy was used to observe high-resolution images of confined modes and photonic bands of planar photonic crystal (PPC) nanocavities fabricated in active InGaAsP material. We have observed the smallest optical cavity modes, which are intentionally produced by fractional edge dislocation high-Q cavity designs. The size of the detected mode was roughly four by three lattice spacings. We have also observed extended dielectric-band modes of the bulk PPC surrounding the nanocavity by geometrically altering the bands in emission range and eliminating localized modes out of the emission range

Two-dimensional photonic crystals for GaN-based blue light emitters

We successfully fabricated two-dimensional photonic crystal structures for III-nitride light emitters by integrating electron-beam lithography, xenon/chlorine-based chemically assisted ion beam etching and a multilayer pattern transfer