Quantum dot laser

An analysis is made of the self-excitation condition for a laser in which the active medium is a ‘quantum dot’ and a whispering-gallery mode of a dielectric microsphere acts as the cavity. It is pointed out that the interaction of a quantum dot with an ensemble of degenerate or near-degenerate modes increases the laser excitation coefficient. A calculation is made of the dependence of the effective volume of a whispering-gallery mode on its index. It is shown that the field maximum of an E-type whispering-gallery mode lies on the surface of a sphere, whereas for an H-type mode this maximum is shifted along the radius into the sphere. Calculations suggest that it should be possible to construct a microlaser even on the basis of a single quantum dot.