Masahiro Hitaka

Terahertz generation in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers with a dual-upper-state active region

We report the performance of room temperature terahertz sources based on intracavity difference-frequency generation in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers with a dual-upper-state (DAU) active region. DAU active region design is theoretically expected to produce larger optical nonlinearity for terahertz difference-frequency generation, compared to the active region designs of the bound-to-continuum type used previously. Fabricated buried heterostructure devices with a two-section buried distributed feedback grating and the waveguide designed for Cherenkov difference-frequency phase-matching scheme operate in two single-mode mid-infrared wavelengths at 10.7 μm and 9.7 μm and produce terahertz output at 2.9 THz with mid-infrared to terahertz conversion efficiency of 0.8 mW/W2 at room temperature.

Low-threshold room-temperature continuous-wave operation of a terahertz difference-frequency quantum cascade laser source

The performance of a room-temperature continuous-wave (CW) terahertz source based on intracavity difference-frequency generation in a mid-infrared (λ ~ 6.8 µm) quantum cascade laser with a dual-upper-state active region is reported. The fabricated buried heterostructure device, with a two-section buried distributed feedback grating, operates at two mid-infrared wavelengths and demonstrates a terahertz output of 2.92 THz with a very low threshold current density of 0.89 kA/cm2 in pulsed operation. Consequently, despite an epitaxial-side-up mounting configuration, the device achieves CW operation at room temperature in which a low CW threshold current density of 1.3 kA/cm2 is obtained.

High photoresponse in room temperature quantum cascade detector based on coupled quantum well design

We report high photoresponse measured in a room temperature quantum cascade detector (QCD) based on a coupled quantum well design that operates with a peak response wavelength of 5.4 μm. The coupled quantum well design is expected to produce higher photocurrents when compared with device active regions that use a combination of simple quantum wells. The coupled quantum well QCD demonstrated high responsivity of 22 mA/W at room temperature with a commonly used 45° wedge-based light coupling configuration. Application of a waveguide configuration to the proposed QCD yielded an elevated responsivity of ∼130 mA/W and a specific detectivity (D*) of 1.1 × 108 cm W−1 Hz1/2 at room temperature.

Spectral purity and tunability of terahertz quantum cascade laser sources based on intracavity difference-frequency generation

Difference frequency generation quantum cascade lasers are well-suited for applications requiring narrow-linewidth emitters. Terahertz sources based on intracavity difference-frequency generation in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers (THz DFG-QCLs) have recently emerged as the first monolithic electrically pumped semiconductor sources capable of operating at room temperature across the 1- to 6-THz range. Despite tremendous progress in power output, which now exceeds 1 mW in pulsed and 10 μW in continuous-wave regimes at room temperature, knowledge of the major figure of merits of these devices for high-precision spectroscopy, such as spectral purity and absolute frequency tunability, is still lacking. By exploiting a metrological grade system comprising a terahertz frequency comb synthesizer, we measure, for the first time, the free-running emission linewidth (LW), the tuning characteristics, and the absolute center frequency of individual emission lines of these sources with an uncertainty of 4 × 10−10. The unveiled emission LW (400 kHz at 1-ms integration time) indicates that DFG-QCLs are well suited to operate as local oscillators and to be used for a variety of metrological, spectroscopic, communication, and imaging applications that require narrow-LW THz sources.

Ultra-broadband room-temperature terahertz quantum cascade laser sources based on difference frequency generation.

We present ultra-broadband room temperature monolithic terahertz quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources based on intra-cavity difference frequency generation, emitting continuously more than one octave in frequency between 1.6 and 3.8 THz, with a peak output power of ~200 μW. Broadband terahertz emission is realized by nonlinear mixing between single-mode and multi-mode spectra due to distributed feedback grating and Fabry-Perot cavity, respectively, in a mid-infrared QCL with dual-upper-state active region design. Besides, at low temperature of 150 K, the device produces a peak power of ~1.0 mW with a broadband THz emission centered at 2.5 THz, ranging from 1.5 to 3.7 THz.

High photoresponse in room-temperature quantum cascade detectors based on a coupled-well design

A high photoresponse in a room-temperature quantum cascade detector (QCD) based on a coupled quantum-well design is demonstrated with a peak detection wavelength of 5.4 μm. In this design, forward electron transfer is engineered to be five times as large as relaxation back to ground level. In this situation, the coupled quantum-well QCD indicates a high responsivity of 22 mA/W as well as a specified detectivity (D*) of 8.0×107 cmW-1Hz1/2, both at room-temperature with commonly used 45° wedge configuration. Applying a waveguide configuration for the proposed QCD, an elevated responsivity of ~130 mA/W with a D* of 1.1×108 cmW-1Hz1/2 was obtained at room-temperature. A laser absorption spectroscopy for N2O gas with proposed QCD and a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser has been also demonstrated.

Development of THz light sources based on QCL technology

Since the first demonstration of quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) in 1994, remarkable progress has been made from the mid-infrared (mid-IR) to terahertz (THz) spectral range. The 1–6 THz spectral range is very attractive for many applications, such as imaging, chem-/bio-sensing, heterodyne detection, and spectroscopy. However, this spectral range still lacks high-performance compact continuous-wave (CW) light sources operable at room temperature. Recently, THz sources based on intracavity difference-frequency generation (DFG) in dual-wavelength mid-IR QCLs have been demonstrated. These devices, known as THz DFG-QCLs, have their active region engineered to exhibit giant intersubband nonlinear susceptibility χ(2) for THz DFG. Recently, we developed THz DFG-QCLs containing an homogeneous active region with dual-upper states (DAU), which exhibit a THz output power of 301 μW with a high mid-IR-to-THz conversion efficiency of 1.2 mW/W2. The DAU active region approach provides a broadband gain bandwidth, and as a result, two wavelength emissions can be obtained without a heterogeneous cascade that has been used previously; this leads to a low threshold current density compared with that obtained from the use of a heterogeneous active region. Here, we present a low threshold THz DFG-QCL based on a λ~6.8 μm DAU active region. The λ~6.8 μm DAU-QCLs have exhibited very low threshold current density as well as broad gain bandwidth. By applying the λ~6.8 μm DAU design approach, the device demonstrates room temperature CW operation without an epidown mounting scheme, where a threshold current density for THz emission has been shown to be low, at 1.3 kA/cm2. Besides, ultra-broadband emission covering 1.6–3.5 THz has been obtained in CW mode below 200 K.

Recent progress in terahertz difference-frequency quantum cascade laser sources

Abstract Terahertz quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources based on intra-cavity difference frequency generation are currently the only electrically pumped monolithic semiconductor light sources operating at room temperature in the 1–6-THz spectral range. Relying on the active regions with the giant second-order nonlinear susceptibility and the Cherenkov phase-matching scheme, these devices demonstrated drastic improvements in performance in the past several years and can now produce narrow-linewidth single-mode terahertz emission that is tunable from 1 to 6 THz with power output sufficient for imaging and spectroscopic applications. This paper reviews the progress of this technology. Recent efforts in wave function engineering using a new active region design based on a dual-upper-state concept led to a significant enhancement of the optical nonlinearity of the active region for efficient terahertz generation. The transfer of Cherenkov devices from their native semi-insulating InP substrates to high-resistivity silicon substrates resulted in a dramatic improvement in the outcoupling efficiency of terahertz radiation. Cherenkov terahertz QCL sources based on the dual-upper-state design have also been shown to exhibit ultra-broadband comb-like terahertz emission spectra with more than one octave of terahertz frequency span. The broadband terahertz QCL sources operating in continuous-wave mode produces the narrow inter-mode beat-note linewidth of 287 Hz, which indicates frequency comb operation of mid-infrared pumps and thus supports potential terahertz comb operation. Finally, we report the high-quality terahertz imaging obtained by a THz imaging system using terahertz QCL sources based on intra-cavity difference frequency generation.

Double-metal waveguide terahertz difference-frequency generation quantum cascade lasers with surface grating outcouplers

We report terahertz quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources based on intra-cavity difference-frequency generation processed into double-metal waveguides with surface-grating outcouplers. This configuration enables high confinement of the terahertz mode in the device active region and efficient surface extraction of terahertz radiation along the entire length of the waveguide. The devices operate at room temperature at 1.9 THz and produce over 110 μW of peak power output with the mid-infrared-to-terahertz conversion of 150 μW/W2. The results represent at least a factor of 2 improvement in the performance compared to the best Cherenkov difference-frequency generation QCL devices operating below 2 THz.We report terahertz quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources based on intra-cavity difference-frequency generation processed into double-metal waveguides with surface-grating outcouplers. This configuration enables high confinement of the terahertz mode in the device active region and efficient surface extraction of terahertz radiation along the entire length of the waveguide. The devices operate at room temperature at 1.9 THz and produce over 110 μW of peak power output with the mid-infrared-to-terahertz conversion of 150 μW/W2. The results represent at least a factor of 2 improvement in the performance compared to the best Cherenkov difference-frequency generation QCL devices operating below 2 THz.

Narrow-linewidth ultra-broadband terahertz sources based on difference-frequency generation in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

We discuss novel approaches to improve the tuning bandwidth and power output of terahertz (THz) sources based on difference-frequency generation (DFG) in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Using a double Littrow external-cavity system, we experimentally demonstrate that both doubly-resonant terms and optical rectification terms in the expression for the intersubband optical nonlinearity contribute to THz generation in DFG-QCLs and report THz DFG-QCLs with the optimized optical rectification terms. We also demonstrate a hybrid DFG-QCL device on silicon that enables significant improvement on THz out-coupling efficiency and results in more than 5 times higher THz output power compared to that of a reference device on its native semi-insulating InP substrate. Finally, we report for the first time the THz emission linewidth of a free-running continuous-wave THz DFG-QCL.