Influence of dielectric overlayers on self-heating of a microdisk laser

Abstract

Abstract We studied experimentally and numerically self-heating of a microdisk laser developed in the AlGaInAs material system and covered with dielectric layers. By experiments, we found that planarization of the microlaser with SU-8 photoresist significantly (almost, 2-fold) decreases the microlaser thermal resistance. Calculations demonstrate that a downward heat flux through the substrate to the heat sink is a dominant way of heat dissipation, and upward convection is much less relevant. Also, the calculations showed that covering microlaser with a TiO2 layer barely affects microdisk temperature but decreases heat localization in the structure.