Romain Terazzi

Quantum cascade lasers operating from 1.2to1.6THz

Two terahertz quantum cascade lasers based on GaAs∕Al0.1Ga0.9As heterostructures are reported. Pulsed mode operation up to 84K and continuous wave (cw) power of 0.36mW at 10K are demonstrated for the laser which emits from 1.34to1.58THz. The other laser shows emission from 1.2to1.32THz with pulsed mode operation up to 69K and cw power of 0.12mW at 10K.

External cavity quantum cascade laser tunable from 7.6 to 11.4 μm

We present the development of a broad gain quantum cascade active region. By appropriate cascade design and using a symmetric active region arrangement, we engineer a flat gain and increase the total modal gain in the desired spectral range. Grating-coupled external cavity quantum cascade lasers using this symmetric active region are tunable from 7.6 to 11.4 μm with a peak optical output power of 1 W and an average output power of 15 mW at room-temperature. With a tuning of over 432 cm−1, this single source covers an emission range of over 39% around the center frequency.

A density matrix model of transport and radiation in quantum cascade lasers

A transport model for quantum cascade lasers based on density matrix formalism that incorporates the laser optical field is confronted with experiment. For a typical mid-infrared laser, very good agreement is found for both the current–voltage and current–optical power characteristics. Forcing thermal distribution with a unique temperature in all subbands was found to lead to an overestimate of electron heating in the injector. The model can then be used further to optimize and design new structures.

Bound-to-continuum terahertz quantum cascade laser with a single-quantum-well phonon extraction/injection stage

A terahertz quantum cascade laser design that combines a wide gain bandwidth, large photon-driven transport and good high-temperature characteristics is presented. It relies on a diagonal transition between a bound state and doublet of states tunnel coupled to the upper state of a phonon extraction stage. The high optical efficiency of this design enables the observation of photon-driven transport over a wide current density range. The relative tolerance of the design to small variations in the barrier thicknesses made it suitable for testing different growth techniques and materials. In particular, we compared the performances of devices grown using molecular-beam epitaxy with those achieved using organometallic chemical vapor deposition. The low-threshold current density and the high slope efficiency makes this device an attractive active region for the development of single-mode quantum cascade lasers based on third-order-distributed feedback structures. Single-mode, high power was achieved with good continuous and pulsed wave operation.

Direct measurement of the linewidth enhancement factor by optical heterodyning of an amplitude-modulated quantum cascade laser

A measurement of the linewidth enhancement factor α of a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser is presented. The measurement is based on a heterodyning experiment, in which one of the lasers is modulated at radio frequency. A value of α=0.02±0.20 is obtained for a modulation frequency of 500MHz. As the frequency is decreased, α increases and is consistent with a thermal chirp effect.

Electrically tunable, high performance quantum cascade laser

A quantum cascade laser design for wide voltage-tuning, emitting at ∼8.5 μm, is presented based on a diagonal bound-to-continuum design. The relatively short period length and the diagonal nature of the laser transition guarantees a wide tuning of the emission due to the linear Stark shift effect. Tuning of both the spontaneous and stimulated emission is presented over almost 100 cm−1. In spite of the large tuning, laser performance are comparable with the best results present in literature in this spectral range. In particular, continuous wave operation up to 450 mW and pulsed wall plug efficiencies up to 11.5% were measured at 300 K. A transport model, based on the density matrix formalism, was used to simulate spontaneous and stimulated emission as function of the applied field. Same model was also used to predict light-current-voltage characteristics of the lasers.

Broadband THz lasing from a photon-phonon quantum cascade structure

Laser emission over a broad range of frequencies from 2.8 to 4.1 THz is reported from a two-quantum well, photon-phonon cascade structure. Internal quantum efficiencies reaching 43% are evaluated at 10 K. Maximum operating temperatures of 125 K are reported, with peak optical powers in excess of 30 mW from a double-metal ridge waveguide. The laser operates in both polarities, showing laser action in reverse bias up to a temperature of 90 K.

Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers based on two-dimensional photonic crystal resonators

We demonstrate high spectral control from surface emitting THz Quantum Cascade Lasers based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal cavity. The perforated top metallic contact acts as an in plane resonator in a tight double-metal plasmonic waveguide providing a strong optical feedback without needing three-dimensional cavity features. The optical far-field patterns do not exhibit the expected symmetry and the shape of the cavity mode. The difference is attributed to a metal surface plasmon mediated light outcoupling mechanism also responsible for the relatively low extraction efficiency.

Influence of the growth temperature on the performances of strain-balanced quantum cascade lasers

The effect of substrate temperature, during epitaxial growth, on the performances of strain-balanced quantum cascade lasers based on a three quantum well active region and operating at λ≈4.6 μm is presented. Based on a comparison with a density matrix model of these devices, the optimum performances obtained at a growth temperature of 515 °C, are interpreted as arising from a value of the interface roughness correlation length (Λ=85 A) close to the optimum one computed by the model (Λ=100 A).

High performance, low dissipation quantum cascade lasers across the mid-IR range

In this work, we present the development of low consumption quantum cascade lasers across the mid-IR range. In particular, short cavity single-mode lasers with optimised facet reflectivities have been fabricated from 4.5 to 9.2 μm. Threshold dissipated powers as low as 0.5 W were obtained in continuous wave operation at room temperature. In addition, the beneficial impact of reducing chip length on laser mounting yield is discussed. High power single-mode lasers from the same processed wafers are also presented.