Tatsuo Dougakiuchi

Broad-gain (Δλ/λ 0 ~0.4), temperature-insensitive (T 0 ~510K) quantum cascade lasers

Broad-gain operation of λ~8.7 μm quantum cascade lasers based on dual-upper-state to multiple-lower-state transition design is reported. The devices exhibit surprisingly wide (~500 cm(-1)) electroluminescence spectra which are very insensitive to voltage and temperature changes above room temperature. With recourse to the temperature-insensitivity of electroluminescence spectra, the lasers demonstrate an extremely-weak temperature-dependence of laser performances: T0-value of 510 K, associated with a room temperature threshold current density of 2.6 kA/cm2. In addition, despite such wide gain spectra, room temperature, continuous wave operation of the laser with buried hetero structure is achieved.

High-performance quantum cascade lasers with wide electroluminescence (∼600 cm−1), operating in continuous-wave above 100 °C

The authors report high temperature continuous-wave (cw) operations of broad-gain quantum cascade lasers based on the anticrossed dual-upper-state to multiple-lower-state design. The devices exhibit extremely wide electroluminescence (>600 cm−1) and subthreshold amplified spontaneous emission (∼570 cm−1) spectra at room temperature. Despite showing such broad electroluminescence spectra, the high-reflection coated, buried heterostructure lasers operating at 6.8 μm demonstrate a low threshold current density of ∼1.5 kA/cm2 and a high power of >500 mW with a high slope efficiency of ∼1.6 W/A in cw mode at 300 K. The maximum cw operating temperature of above 100 °C is achieved.

Broadband Tuning of External Cavity Dual-Upper-State Quantum-Cascade Lasers in Continuous Wave Operation

A wide wavelength tuning of an external cavity quantum-cascade laser (QCL) based on the anticrossed dual-upper-state to multiple-lower-state design is demonstrated in continuous wave (cw) operation at room temperature. The tuning ranges of 321 cm-1 (Δλ/λ~22%) in pulsed operation and 248 cm-1 (Δλ/λ~17%) in cw operation are achieved, despite employment of the active region with translational symmetry. The present tuning range in cw operation substantially exceeds the values obtained with the QCLs based on conventional broadband active region designs. In addition, the continuous, single mode tuning is realized with its widely homogeneous gain spectrum.

Broadband tuning of continuous wave quantum cascade lasers in long wavelength (> 10μm) range

Broadband spectral tuning in the long wavelength range (greater than 10 μm) was demonstrated with an external-cavity quantum cascade laser. The tunable wavelength of the laser ranged from 9.5 to 11.4 μm (176 cm(-1); corresponding to 18% of the center wavelength) in continuous wave (cw) operation at room temperature, without any anti-reflection coating. The gain chip based on the anti-crossed dual-upper-state (DAU) design provided a cw lasing up to 300 K, with a low threshold current density of 2.1 kA/cm2. The highly stable broadband spectral tuning and high laser performance were enabled by the spectrally homogeneous gain profile of the anti-crossed DAU active region.

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.

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.

Extremely broad-gain quantum-cascade lasers based on dual-upper-state design

Broad-gain quantum cascade lasers based on dual-upper-state design are reported. The devices exhibit a wide (-570 cm-1) electroluminescence spectra, a low cw threshold-current-density of 1.5 kA/cm2 and a high cw output-power of -200 mW at 300 K.

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.