Resonant modes in monolithic nitride pillar microcavities

GaN-based airpost pillar microcavities are realized by focused-ion beam etching starting from an all-epitaxially grown vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser structure. Pillar diameters below 1 μm are well controllable. The sidewalls are smooth and show a damaged surface layer of a thickness less than 2 nm only. Micro-photoluminescence measurements reveal the longitudinal and transversal mode spectra of the cavities in good agreement with theoretical calculations based on a vectorial transfer-matrix method. Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 2005