Recent advances in nanophotonics-From physics to devices

Due to the need to realize highly functional low cost photonic devices, nanophotonic approaches have become a major area of photonics research during the last few years. Using photonic crystals we have realized miniaturized tunable single mode lasers as well as dispersion compensation elements for the 1.5 μm wavelength range. High quality single mode GaAs based quantum dot lasers for the 1.3 μm wavelength range have been realized using lateral metal grating structures for distributed feedback. High power quantum dot lasers at 915 nm are presented which combine high output powers with a very good temperature stability displaying the potential of an uncooled operation of the devices.