Stability of pulse emission and enhancement of intracavity second-harmonic generation in self-mode-locked quantum cascade lasers

We report the observation of stable pulse emission and enhancement of intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) in self-mode-locked quantum cascade (QC) lasers. Down-conversion of the detector signal by heterodyning with an RF signal allows the direct observation of the pulsed laser emission in the time domain and reveals a stable train of pulses characteristic of mode-locked lasers. The onset of self-mode locking in QC lasers with built-in optical nonlinearity results in a significant increase of the SHG signal. A pulse duration of /spl sim/12 ps is estimated from the measured increase of the SHG signal in pulsed emission compared to the power expected for the SHG signal in CW emission. This value is in good agreement with the pulse duration deduced from the optical spectral width.     

Optimized second-harmonic generation in asymmetric double quantumwells

We present a theoretical analysis of surface-incidence and waveguide-mode second harmonic generation with detuned intersubband transitions in GaAs-AlGaAs, InGaAs-InAlAs and GaSb-InGaSb-AlGaSb asymmetric double quantum wells. The analysis includes the effects of absorption, saturation, pump depletion, optical carrier heating, mode confinement and competition, and the loss of phase coherence due to waveguide, bulk and resonant intersubband contributions to the refractive index mismatch. Optimal structures have been determined for each material system in both surface-incidence and waveguide-mode geometries. A scheme for maintaining phase matching by incorporation of a separate region with an intersubband transition tuned midway between the first and second harmonic frequencies is analyzed. At 10.6 μm, the maximum conversion efficiency for the optimized InGaAs-InAlAs waveguide-mode device is ≈16% at a pump-beam intensity of 40 MW/cm ². Furthermore, the same device can be modulated to vanishing second harmonic output power when an electric field of -32 kV/cm is applied     

Milliwatt second harmonic generation in quantum cascade lasers with modal phase matching

Milliwatt second harmonic power at 4.45 /spl mu/m was achieved in InP lattice-matched quantum cascade lasers with monolithically-integrated resonant nonlinear cascades and modal phase matching. The use of an InP top-cladding layer and high-reflectance coating on the laser back facet enabled high linear laser power and consequently record nonlinear power.     

Resonant tunneling in quantum cascade lasers

Experimental evidence that in quantum cascade lasers electron injection into the active region is controlled by resonant tunneling between two-dimensional subbands is discussed. A quantitative analysis is carried out using an equation for the current density based on a tight-binding approximation. Electron injection into the active region is optimized when the current density is limited by the lifetime of the excited state of the laser transition. In this regime, quasi-equilibrium is reached between the population of the injector ground state and that of the excited state of the laser transition characterized by a common quasi-Fermi level. The design of the injector depends on the selected laser active region; in particular, the choice of physical parameters, such as doping concentration and injection barrier thicknesses, is in general different for vertical or diagonal transition lasers. The paper concludes with an investigation of the transport properties at threshold and its dependence on stimulated emission; a relationship between the differential resistance above threshold and the value of the slope efficiency is deduced     

High-power continuous-wave quantum cascade lasers

High-power continuous-wave (CW) laser action is reported for a GaInAs-AlInAs quantum cascade structure operating in the mid-infrared (λ≃5 μm). Gain optimization and reduced heating effects have been achieved by employing a modulation-doped funnel injector with a three-well vertical-transition active region and by adopting InP as the waveguide cladding material to improve thermal dissipation and lateral conductance. A CW optical power as high as 0.7 W per facet has been obtained at 20 K with a slope efficiency of 582 mW/A, which corresponds to a value of the differential quantum efficiency η_d=4.78 much larger than unity, proving that each electron injected above threshold contributes to the optical field a number of photons equal to the number of periods in the structure. The lasers have been operated CW up to 110 K and more than 200 mW per facet have still been measured at liquid nitrogen temperature. The high overall performance of the lasers is also attested by the large “wall plug” efficiency, which, for the best device, has been computed to be more than 8.5% at 20 K. The spectral analysis has shown finally that the emission is single-mode for some devices up to more than 300 mW at low temperature     

Photonic-crystal distributed-feedback quantum cascade lasers

Because of an intrinsically low linewidth-enhancement factor, the quantum cascade laser (QCL) is especially favorable for patterning with a recently proposed 2-D photonic crystal (PC) lattice that substantially increases the device area over which optical coherence can be maintained. In this work, we use an original time-domain Fourier-transform (TDFT) algorithm to theoretically investigate the beam quality and spectral purity of gain-guided PC distributed-feedback (DFB) quantum cascade lasers. The conventional 1-D DFB laser and also the angled-grating DFB (α-DFB) laser are special cases of the PCDFB geometry. By searching the parameter space consisting of tilt angle, coupling coefficients, stripe width, and cavity length, we have theoretically optimized the PCDFB gratings for QCL gain regions. At a wavelength of 4.6 μm, the simulations project single-mode emission from stripes as wide as 1.2 mm, and etendues of no more than three times the diffraction limit for 2-mm stripes. We also examine the tolerances required for single-mode and high-brightness operation. Comparisons are made to analogous simulations of a-DFB QCL lasers     

Compact violet lasers by second-harmonic generation in KTP waveguides

Periodically segmented waveguides were fabricated in flux-grown KTP for quasi-phasematched second-harmonic generation (SHG) of a light beam with a wavelength of 425 nm. Diode-pumped violet laser sources are proposed on the basis of these waveguides. We shall show that a pulsed operation of the pump diode laser at a 940 MHz repetition rate enables the construction of sources with a very compact geometry, which are insensitive to temperature fluctuations. These sources may still be considered as quasi-continuous wave (cw) for applications in high-density optical recording.The most compact type of violet laser source has a size of 1 × 1 × 2 cm³. It contains only the diode pump laser, the KTP waveguide and a miniature lens to couple the pump beam to the waveguide. Time-averaged violet output powers up to 85 μW have been generated for many hours at room temperature without requiring an active temperature control. This output power may be sufficient for reading an optical disc.By optical feedback of a portion of the transmitted pump beam via an external grating it is possible to generate higher violet powers. In this way, the pump laser is forced to operate in a single spectral mode, the wavelength of which can be tuned to coincide with the phase-matching wavelength of the waveguide. This grating-controlled laser system is shown to generate a 425 nm beam with powers up to 0.5 mW. The total length of the device is about 7 cm.     

InAs-based distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers

InAs/AlSb distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers are presented. The lasers can operate in the single frequency regime at 3.34-3.38 mum in the 0-100degC temperature range in pulse mode. The wavelength tuning rate of the lasers is 0.27 nm/K and continuous tuning range up to 10 nm can be achieved.     

Reliable high-power 1060nm DBR lasers for second-harmonic generation

Highly reliable 1060 nm DBR lasers are reported with a single-wavelength output power greater than 350 mW and a failure rate as low as 1.7 kFITs, at a heatsink temperature of 25 C and a gain current of 500 mA. The green-light power of up to 184 mW has been generated by frequency doubling of these DBR lasers.     

宽谱太赫兹量子级联激光器的自混合特性

基于传输矩阵理论及多模速率方程,研究了宽谱太赫兹量子级联激光器在不同光反馈强度下的自混合动力学特性.研究发现,在弱反馈下光场自混合对激光器光谱特性影响很小;反射物位置移动时的自混合信号呈正弦规律变化,同时自混合信号幅度随反射物位置的变化表现出周期性调制现象.宽谱量子级联激光器在弱反馈下可以应用于测距、成像及光谱测量.在...     

Continuous-wave operation of GaInAs-AlGaAsSb quantum cascade lasers

We report on the demonstration of continuous-wave (CW) operation of GaInAs-AlGaAsSb quantum cascade (QC) lasers. By placing a 2.5-/spl mu/m-thick gold layer on both sides of the laser ridge to extract heat from the active region in the lateral direction, together with mounting the device epilayer down, we have achieved CW operation of GaInAs-AlGaAsSb QC lasers composed of 25 stages of active/injection regions. The maximum CW operating temperature of the lasers is 94 K, and the emission wavelength is around /spl lambda//spl sim/4.65 /spl mu/m. For a device with the size of 10/spl times/2000 /spl mu/m/sup 2/, the CW optical output power per facet is 13 mW at 42 K and 4 mW at 94 K. The CW threshold current density is 1.99 kA/cm/sup 2/ at 42 K, and 2.08 kA/cm/sup 2/ at 94 K, respectively.     

High-performance quantum cascade lasers with electric-field-freeundoped superlattice

An optimized design of quantum cascade lasers with electric field free undoped superlattice active regions is presented. In these structures the superlattice is engineered so that: (1) the first two extended states of the upper miniband are separated by an optical phonon to avoid phonon bottleneck effects and concentrate the injected electron density in the lower state and (2) the oscillator strength of the laser transition is maximized. The injectors' doping profile is also optimized by concentrating the doping in a single quantum well to reduce the electron density in the active material. These design changes result in major improvements of the pulse/continuous-wave performance such as a weak temperature dependence of threshold (T₀=167 K), high peak powers (100-200 mW at 300 K) and higher CW operating temperatures for devices emitting around at λ~8.5 μm     

Chemical sensors based on quantum cascade lasers

There is an increasing need in many chemical sensing applications ranging from industrial process control to environmental science and medical diagnostics for fast, sensitive, and selective gas detection based on laser spectroscopy. The recent availability of novel pulsed and CW quantum cascade distributed feedback (QC-DFB) lasers as mid-infrared spectroscopic sources address this need. A number of spectroscopic techniques have been demonstrated worldwide by several groups. For example, the authors have employed QC-DFB lasers for the monitoring and quantification of several trace gases and isotopic species in ambient air at ppmv and ppbv levels by means of direct absorption, wavelength modulation, and cavity enhanced and cavity ringdown spectroscopy     

Mid-infrared tunable quantum cascade lasers for gas-sensingapplications

The quantum cascade (QC) laser does not involve the material bandgap for the generation of light. Therefore, InP- and GaAs-based III-V semiconductor materials can now be used for the generation of long-wavelength, mid-infrared light. These materials are also straightforward to process and pattern. This is essential for the more sophisticated device geometries such as distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. DFB lasers provide a very elegant and reliable method to achieve a well-defined single-wavelength emission (called single-mode operation) as opposed to the usually multiple-mode emission of free-running Fabry-Perot resonators. QC-DFB lasers were first demonstrated in 1996. They have evolved very rapidly and have already shown great promise in many different gas-sensing applications     

Horn antennas for terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Far-field pattern and extraction efficiency of double metal 1.8 THz quantum cascade lasers (QCL) are controlled using miniaturised horn antennas. Enhancement of the optical output power of ten times and quasi-circular beam pattern are obtained     

（英）中红外量子级联激光器输运特性的仿真

基于一种非局域化的输运模型,对不同结构不同温度下的中红外量子级联激光器的输运特性进行了仿真。在这个模型中,利用量子隧穿、微带隧穿以及热载流子输运等长程载流子输运模型,对传统的扩散-漂移方程进行了矫正.并将基于上述集成模型的计算结果和实验结果进行了比较,通过拟合参数的合理设置,计算结果和实验结果得到了很好的吻合.     

量子级联激光器的原理及研究进展

量子级联激光器的发明是半导体激光器领域里程碑的发展,开创了中远红外半导体激光的新领域,在红外对抗、毒品和爆炸物检测、环境污染监测、太赫兹成像等方向有广泛的应用前景.本文阐述了量子级联激光器的基本原理、以及材料和器件的研究,结合应用方向对其研究进展进行了综述性介绍.     

中红外可调谐量子级联激光器研究进展

量子级联激光器(QCL)是中红外波段重要的激光光源,其中,可调谐中红外量子级联激光器具有单纵模、频率可调谐的优点,成为目前研究的热点。可调谐中红外量子级联激光器主要通过分布反馈(DFB)光栅、分布布拉格反射(DBR)光栅、外腔衍射光栅等方法实现。本文介绍了中红外量子级联激光器的基本原理,分别归纳、总结了近年来DFB、DBR可调谐量子级联激光器以及外腔可调谐量子级联激光器的研究进展,讨论了各种可调谐方法的优缺点。最后,对可调谐量子级联激光器的发展趋势进行了展望。     

Active mode locking of broadband quantum cascade lasers

Active mode locking in broadband quantum cascade (QC) lasers with a repetition rate of about 14.3 GHz has been achieved through the modulation of the laser bias current. At low driving currents, the active mode locking in broadband QC lasers resembles the active mode locking in single-wavelength QC lasers, while at high driving currents, the mode locking properties are governed by the broad spectral gain of these lasers. At high bias currents, the active modulation excites Fabry-Perot modes across the entire gain spectrum from 6.7 to 7.4 /spl mu/m, with clear evidence of mode locking. The spectral width of the optical gain in the broadband QC lasers exceeds 2 THz and indicates the potential for generating subpicosecond pulses.     

量子级联激光器的电路模型分析

通过分析量子级联激光器(QCL)中的电子在量子阱输运的单极行为,得到它的速率方程,以此为基础建立起它的等效电路模型,利用PSPICE进行电路模拟,得到了它的频率响应特性,并对可能影响它的调制特性的一些因素进行了分析.