Directional waveguide coupling from a wavelength-scale deformed microdisk laser

Abstract: We demonstrate uni-directional evanescent coupling of lasing emission from a wavelength-scale deformed microdisk to a waveguide. This is attributed to the Goos-H\"anchen shift and Fresnel filtering effect that result in a spatial separation of the clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW) propagating ray orbits. By placing the waveguide tangentially at different locations to the cavity boundary, we may selectively couple the CW (CCW) wave out, leaving the CCW (CW) wave inside the cavity, which also reduces the spatial hole burning effect. The device geometry is optimized with a full-wave simulation tool, and the lasing behavior and directional coupling are confirmed experimentally.