The authors report an electrically driven, hexapole mode, single-cell photonic crystal laser operating at 1537.8 nm. Electrical current is supplied through a submicrometer-sized current post beneath the cavity center. This wavelength-scale single-cell photonic crystal laser operates in a single mode with threshold current of similar to 100 mu A at room temperature. Operation in the hexapole mode is confirmed by the near-field profile, far-field polarization, and the finite-difference time-domain computation based on the fabricated cavity structure. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.