Single-mode lasing and vectorial beam emission from spatially varying mass-mediated photonic Dirac cavities

Spatially varying mass-mediated photonic Dirac cavities represent a new class of optical resonators that emulate relativistic trapping. By engineering a position-dependent “mass term” through lattice manipulation, these structures can trap light in discrete localized states analogous to atomic orbitals. While the radiation characteristics of spatially varied photonic Dirac cavities have been investigated, their applications to surface emitting laser are merely reported. Here, we design, fabricate, and characterize a photonic surface-emitting laser based on a Dirac cavity with spatially varying mass. Built on an InAlGaAs-based multiple quantum well, the device stably operates in single mode at the near-infrared wavelength, with a lasing threshold of 10 kW/cm2. Above threshold, it maintains stable single-mode operation, exhibiting a quality (Q) factor of 1765 and side-mode suppression ratio ∼30 dB. The emitted laser beams show robust cylindrical vector profiles with topological charge of −1. This work provides a robust topological photonics approach for on-chip integrated structured light sources.