太赫兹量子级联激光器研究进展

太赫兹技术涉及电磁学、光电子学、半导体物理学、材料科学以及微加工技术等多个学科，它在信息科学、生物学、医学、天文学、环境科学等领域有重要的应用价值．太赫兹辐射源是太赫兹频段应用的关键器件．本文简要介绍了太赫兹电磁波的研究背景、重要特点以及潜在应用，重点讨论了太赫兹半导体量子级联激光器的工作原理和研究进展等．     

Phonon-wave-induced resonance fluorescence in semiconductor nanostructures: acoustoluminescence in the terahertz range

Acoustic wave excitation of semiconductor quantum dots generates resonance fluorescence of electronic intersublevel excitations. Our theoretical analysis predicts acoustoluminescence, in particular, a conversion of acoustic into electromagnetic THz waves over a broad spectral range.     

Transit-time frequency quantum beats and THz negative conductance in nanoscale semiconductor heterostructures

A quantum-mechanical calculation of the THz negative conductance of hot ballistic electrons in nanoscale semiconductor heterostructures has been performed. It is shown that quantum beats of the ballistic electron wave function induce an ac current in the structure, which can do negative work on the ac field.     

Optimization of cubic GaN/AlGaN quantum cascade structures for negative refraction in the THz spectral range

In this work we theoretically investigate a possibility to use cubic nitride based multi-layer periodic nanostructure as a semiconductor metamaterial. The structure design is based on an active region of a quantum cascade laser optimized to achieve optical gain in the Terahertz (THz) spectral range. In particular, we test the GaN/AlGaN quantum well configurations, which should exhibit important advantages compared to GaAs-based structures, namely room temperature operation without the assistance of magnetic field and lower doping densities. Our numerical rate-equations model is solved self-consistently and it takes into account electron-longitudinal optical phonon scattering between all the relevant states among the adjacent periods of the structure. A global optimization routine, specifically genetic algorithm is then used to generate new gain-optimized structures. This work confirms the advantages of cubic GaN designs over GaAs ones, namely feasibility of negative refraction at room temperature without the assistance of magnetic field while keeping the doping densities of the same order of magnitude.     

掺杂BaTiO3/SrTiO3多层膜与太赫兹波相互作用

掺杂半导体中的载流子吸收在THz波段非常明显,其相互作用研究是研制THz通信中的关键器件之一的基础。采用氟化氪（KrF）脉冲准分子激光烧蚀沉积（PLD）技术,制备了Ni掺杂BaTiO3/SrTiO3多层膜。基于辐射频率为3.09 THz、脉冲功率为10 mW量级的THz 量子级联激光器(QCL)光源研究了太赫兹波在Ni掺杂BaTiO3/SrTiO3多层膜中的传输,发现损耗主要是Ni颗粒的非共振吸收导致。     

Ultrafast all optical switching via tunable Fano interference

Tunneling induced quantum interference experienced by an incident probe in asymmetric double quantum wells can easily be modulated by means of an external control light beam. This phenomenon, which is here examined within the dressed-state picture, can be exploited to devise a novel all-optical ultrafast switch. For a suitably designed semiconductor heterostructure, the switch is found to exhibit frequency bandwidths of the order of 0.1 THz and response and recovery times of about 1 ps.     

Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser

Dispersion compensation is vital for the generation of ultrashort and single cycle pulses from modelocked lasers across the electromagnetic spectrum. It is typically based on addition of an extra dispersive element to the laser cavity that introduces a chromatic dispersion opposite to that of the gain medium. To date, however, no dispersion compensation schemes have been successfully applied to terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers for short and stable pulse generation in the THz range. In this work, a monolithic on‐chip compensation scheme is realized for a modelocked QCL, permitting THz pulses to be considerably shortened from 16ps to 4ps. This is based on the realization of a small coupled cavity resonator that acts as an ‘off resonance’ Gires‐Tournois interferometer (GTI), permitting large THz spectral bandwidths to be compensated. This novel application of a GTI opens up a direct and simple route to sub‐picosecond and single cycle pulses in the THz range from a compact semiconductor source.     

Room‐temperature terahertz emission from ZnSe‐based quantum cascade structures: A simulation study

We identified conditions for room‐temperature operation of terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz QCLs) where variable barrier heights are used on ZnSe/Zn_1–xMg_x Se material systems. The THz QCL devices are based on three‐level two‐well design schemes. The THz QCL lasers with alternating quantum barriers with different heights were compared with THz QCL laser structures with fixed quantum barrier heights. It is found that the THz QCL device with novel design employing variable barrier heights achieved the terahertz emission of about 1.45 THz at room‐temperature (300 K), and has improved laser performance due to the suppression of thermally activated carrier leakage via higher‐energy parasitic levels. Thus, THz QCL devices employing the design with variable barrier heights may lead to future improvements of the operating temperature and performance of THz QCL lasers. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The progress towards terahertz quantum cascade lasers on silicon substrates

A review is presented of work over the last 10 years which has been aimed at trying to produce a Si‐based THz quantum cascade laser. Potential THz applications and present THz sources will be briefly discussed before the materials issues with the Si/SiGe system is discussed. Waveguide designs and waveguide losses will be presented. Experimental measurements of the non‐radiative lifetimes for intersubband transitions in Si_1‐xGe_x quantum wells will be presented along with theory explaining the important scattering mechanisms which determine the lifetimes. Examples of p‐type Si/SiGe quantum cascade designs with the experimental electroluminescence will be reviewed and examples of n‐type Si‐based designs will be presented. In the conclusion designs and structures will be discussed with the greatest potential to achieve an electrically pumped Si‐based THz laser.     

Mode coherence measurements across a 1.5 THz spectral bandwidth of a passively mode-locked quantum dash laser

The mode coherence of adjacent and non-adjacent spectral modes of a passively mode locked quantum dash (QDash) semiconductor laser are deduced through radio frequency beat-tone linewidth measurements. A wavelength conversion scheme that uses degenerate four wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier is proposed which considerably extends the mode spacing beyond the limit imposed by conventional fast-photodetection and electrical spectrum analysis of around 100 GHz. Using this scheme, the mode coherence of the QDash laser was measured out to the thirty-first harmonic, or a mode separation of 1.5 THz.     

Quantum Cascade Lasers and Applications: State-of-the-Art and Prospects

We briefly review the studies devoted to development and applications of terahertz and multiterahertz quantum cascade lasers on intraband transitions in quantum wells of semiconductor heterostructures, which appeared in the last 5–7 years. Such lasers developed recently for the frequency band 3.5-70 THz find more and more applications in spectroscopy, communication, etc. We describe the first experiments performed at the Institute of the Physics of Microstructures of the Russian Academy of Sciences on studying the parameters of multiterahertz cascade lasers provided by our European colleagues.     

半导体量子器件物理讲座 第一讲 异质结构和量子结构

随着半导体材料超薄层外延生长和微细加工技术的进展,人们已研制成功多种多样的半导体量子器件,以量子理论为基础,以半导体量子器件为研究对象,形成了一门新的学科－半导体量子电子学和量子光电子学,文章着重介绍半导体异质结构和量子结构,包括其能带结构、态密度分布等性质。     

Regrowth-Free Processing for GaAs and InP Photonic Integrated Circuits

Technologies are described for integrating multiple bandgaps and photonic crystal structures monolithically in a semiconductor chip. Practical devices examples include high power 980 nm pumps, 2×2 crosspoint switches and lasers modelocked at THz frequencies.     

太赫兹量子级联激光器中有源区上激发态电子向高能级泄漏的研究

利用热力学统计理论和激光器输出特性理论,建立了太赫兹量子级联激光器(THz QCL)有源区中上激发态电子往更高能级电子态泄漏的计算模型,以输出功率度量电子泄漏程度研究分析了晶格温度和量子阱势垒高度对电子泄漏的影响.数值仿真结果表明,晶格温度上升会加剧电子泄漏,并且电子从上激发态泄漏到束缚态的数量大于泄漏到阱外连续态,同时温度的上升也会降低激光输出功率.增加量子阱势垒高度能抑制电子泄漏,并且有源区量子阱结构中存在一个最优量子阱势垒高度. THz QCL经过最优量子阱势垒高度优化后,工作温度得到提升,其输出功率相比于以往的结果也有所提高.研究结果对优化THz QCL有源区结构、抑制电子泄漏和改善激光器输出特性有指导作用.     

Non-perturbative multiphoton excitation studies in an excitonic coupled quantum well system using high-intensity THz laser fields

Multiphoton excitations and nonlinear optical properties of exciton states in GaAs/Al_xGa_(1-x)As coupled quantum well structure have been theoretically investigated under the influence of a time-varying high-intensity terahertz(THz) laser field. Non-perturbative Floquet theory is employed to solve the time-dependent equation of motion for the laser-driven excitonic quantum well system. The response to the field parameters, such as intensity and frequency of the laser electric field on the state populations, can be used in various optical semiconductor device applications, such as photodetectors,sensors, all-optical switches, and terahertz emitters.     

半导体低维体系简介

介绍了量子阱、量子线、量子点、半导体超晶格、二维电子气等典型的低维半导体结构及其性质和分析方法。     

Photoluminescence inner core excitation in semiconductor quantum structures

We introduce a photoluminescence inner core excitation (PLICE) for the studies of semiconductor quantum structures. This novel method, in which we use synchrotron radiation as tunable excitation source, is expected to facilitate us to obtain electronic and compositional information about buried quantum structures. Here we report experimental results on quantum dots (QDs) and quantum wires (QWRs), in order to demonstrate potential applicability of the method to the semiconductor nanostructure studies.     

Coherent population trapping in quantum cascade photodetector as a new method for terahertz detection

In this article a novel terahertz photodetector based on coherent population trapping (CPT) and in quantum well cascade format is introduced and supplementary simulations and discussions are presented to fulfill the proposed idea. In this scheme, the interference of a short-wavelength probe signal and the terahertz (THz) signals modifies the absorption coefficient of the active region and thus, detection of the short wavelength probe is translated as detection of the THz signal. A ladder structure coupled to the active region extracts the probe-excited carriers and transports them to consequent period via phonon-mediated transport just like conventional quantum cascade structures.     

Interface phonons in asymmetric quantum well structures

In semiconductor microstructures with many layers, the phonon modes change from their bulk form and split into ‘confined LO phonons’ (LC) and ‘interface phonons’ (IF), the number and variety of which depends on both the number of layers and the number of different materials in the structure. This affects the electron–phonon scattering rates. Because of the current interest in inter-subband THz emitters, we use these LC and IF modes to evaluate the inter-subband electron–phonon scattering rate in THz emitter prototypes that are based on four-subband stepped quantum wells. These scattering rates in turn affect the population inversion predicted for these devices, so we compare the predicted population inversions for the most promising prototypes against those obtained using bulk phonon scattering rates.