半导体量子点激光器研究进展

首先简要地回顾了半导体激光器发展的历史和量子点激光器所特有的优异性能,进而介绍半导体量子点及其三维量子点阵列的制备技术,然后分别讨论了量子点激光器（能带）结构设计思想,实现基态激射时所必须具备的条件和近年来国内外半导体量子点器的研究进展。最后分析讨论了量子点激光器研制中存在的问题和发展趋势。     

Proposal for an x-ray free electron laser oscillator with intermediate energy electron beam

Harmonic lasing of low-gain free electron laser oscillators has been experimentally demonstrated in the terahertz and infrared regions. Recently, the low-gain oscillator has been reconsidered as a promising candidate for hard x-ray free electron lasers, through the use of high reflectivity, high-resolution x-ray crystals. In this Letter, it is proposed to utilize a crystal-based cavity resonant at a higher harmonic of the undulator radiation, together with phase shifting, to enable harmonic lasing of the x-ray free electron laser oscillator, and hence allow the generation of hard x-ray radiation at a reduced electron beam energy. Results show that fully coherent free electron laser radiation with megawatt peak power, in the spectral region of 10-25 keV, can be generated with a 3.5 GeV electron beam.     

光泵NH3分子远红外激光研究

运用量子系统的密度矩阵理论，采用迭代法计算了光泵ＮＨ３分子远红外超辐射和腔式激光的频谱特性和相应的最佳工作气压。理论计算表明相对于超辐射方式，光泵腔式ＮＨ３分子远红外激光具有宽带辐射以及纵向调谐特性，且总的输出光强在一定条件下得到提高，最佳工作气压也较低。在实验上对ＴＥＡＣＯ２－１０Ｒ（８）和９Ｒ（１６）泵浦的Ｎ 红外超辐射和腔式激光器产生的远红外辐射进行了测量。结果表明理论计算与实验结果相符。     

Classical theory of laser linewidth

The classical theory of light fluctuations rests on the intuitive concept that jumps between atomic states occur at independent times when the optical field has a prescribed value. The statistical properties of phase-noise sources are obtained in the present paper by applying this principle to detuned atoms. Formulae for amplitude and phase fluctuations coincide with quantum-theory results even when non-classical states of light are generated. Theories employing semiclassical or quantum concepts are reviewed. We consider particularly the linewidth of laser oscillators operating below and above threshold when the atomic polarization cannot be adiabatically eliminated. Quantum-theory results by Lax (1966) are recovered from classical theory in a straightforward manner. More general results are given for dispersive loads, applicable to external-cavity lasers and relevant to gain guidance. It is emphasized that the K-factor as calculated by Petermann is applicable only below threshold. When more than one emitting element is present, population rate equations need to be considered and the linewidth decreases when the pump fluctuations are suppressed. The role of gain compression relating to semiconductor lasers is discussed. It is shown that at low and moderate powers gain compression reduces the effective phase-amplitude coupling factor, . But at high power a number of mechanisms contribute to linewidth rebroadening. One of them is the statistical (quasi-thermal equilibrium) fluctuation of the refractive index. General concepts applicable to broadband light are outlined in an appendix.     

Optically pumped far infrared lasers

The far-infrared (FIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum is commonly thought of as the wavelength region ≈ 30μm-≈2 mm. Thus, the FIR wavelength region is located between the more familiar areas of microwaves and optics. Primarily due to the lack of FIR sources and detectors, the FIR region is difficult to access and therefore relatively unexplored and unused. The FIR source problem is presently under attack from neighbouring disciplines; from the microwave side by extending the frequency operating range of classical electron tube oscillators (e.g. backward wave oscillators) and semiconductor devices (e.g. IMPATT and quantum well oscillators) and from the optical side primarily by optically pumped molecular gas lasers.The FIR technology evolution accelerated in the mid 60's with the discovery of the discharge pumped hydrogen cyanide laser, lasing at a handful of lines located at about 330μm wavelength. However, the most important step towards a useful coherent FIR source was the discovery of the optically pumped FIR laser in 1970. In optically pumped FIR lasers a molecular gas (e.g. methyl fluoride methyl alcohol, formic acid) is pumped by an external laser, usually a carbon dioxide laser. The FIR laser transitions typically takes place between adjacent rotational levels in an excited vibrational state. Today, optically pumped FIR lasers cover the full FIR region by more than one thousand discrete laser lines observed in hundreds of FIR laser media. FIR output powers on the order of 1–100 mW are available from a vast number of laser transitions.Despite the rapid development of semiconductor FIR oscillators the optically pumped FIR laser is still the only practical unit that bridge the full frequency-gap between microwaves and optics. The fact that FIR lasers are considered as local oscillators in space born applications, indicate that FIR laser technology has matured considerably.This survey paper discusses optically pumped FIR lasers from the engineer's point of view: principles of operation, design and characteristics.     

Higher-order photon statistics of single-mode laser diodes and microchip solid-state lasers

We examine higher-order photon statisitics of laser diodes (LDs) and microchip solid-state lasers (SSLs). When the lasers are operated above lasing threshold, significantly different features of fluctuations are exhibited, which are the result of the asymmetric non-Gaussian distribution characteristics that are always present in SSLs, whereas, in contrast, Gaussian fluctuation persists in LDs. It is found that the deterministic dynamic trajectory in phase space, which is controlled by the ratio between the fluorescence and the photon lifetimes, is crucial to the corresponding behavior of higher-order statistics.     

Intrinsic noise of semiconductor lasers in optical communication systems

The upper limit of the achievable signal-to-noise ratio in optical communication systems is determined by the intrinsic laser noise due to quantum fluctuations inside the laser cavity. This achievable signal-to-noise ratio depends on the way in which different lasing modes are detected; wavelength filtering and material dispersion may yield a significant deterioration of the signal-to-noise ratio. It is concluded from theoretical calculations and from measurements on V-groove lasers that a d.c. signal-to-noise ratio of about 70 dB may be achieved for a noise bandwidth of 10 MHz.     

Spectra of optically pumped superradiant and cavity NH3 far-infrared laser

Based on the density matrix theory of quantum system, the spectra of optically pumped superradiant and cavity NH₃ far-infrared (FIR) lasers were calculated by means of iteration method. The calculation showed that, compared with the optically pumped superradiant FIR laser, the cavity laser had a wider band spectrum of FIR emission and a higher output power under certain condition, moreover, the spectra of cavity laser had multi longitudinal-mode structure. Supported by the Research Foundation of Hubei Province Education Committee, PRC     

Filtering of light fluctuations by multiple second harmonic generation

It is shown that the level of both quantum and classical light fluctuations can be considerably decreased by multiple second harmonic generation in thin nonlinear plates, when filtering out the generated second harmonic radiation behind each plate. As for the application, a second harmonic plate is proposed to be placed in the laser resonator in order to improve statistical and coherence properties of the lasing mode.     

Lasing spectra of 1.55 μm InAs/InP quantum dot lasers: theoretical analysis and comparison with the experiments

In this paper, a theoretical model is used to investigate the lasing spectrum properties of InAs/InP (113)B quantum dot (QD) lasers emitting at 1.55 μm. The numerical model used is based on a multi-population rate equation (MPRE) analysis. It takes into account the effect of the competition between the inhomogeneous broadening (due to the QD size dispersion) and the homogenous broadening as well as a nonlinear gain variation associated to a multimode laser emission. The double laser emission and the temperature dependence of lasing spectra of self-assembled InAs/InP quantum dot lasers is studied both experimentally and theoretically.     

Performance optimization for terahertz quantum cascade laser at higher temperature using genetic algorithm

The aim of this work is to establish an approach for obtaining improved design parameters for high temperature operation of terahertz quantum cascade lasers using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. For studying the lasing conditions of a quantum cascade laser, a self-consistent model is adopted. This model uses standard wave function approximation and effective mass approximation with relevant scattering mechanisms to solve Schrodinger’s equation for the cascaded quantum wells. Fermi’s Golden Rule is then used to calculate the corresponding lifetime of each eigen states. To describe the coherent evolution of wave functions and phase breaking, density matrix formalism is employed. Subsequently, laser rate equations are used for calculating the parameters related to electronic transport in the device. These parameters are then utilized for investigating the temperature dependence of existing terahertz quantum cascade lasers. Finally, using an optimization technique based on Genetic algorithm, design parameters for resonant-phonon quantum cascade laser are obtained within the terahertz frequency range. The results illustrate that this optimization process can offer improvement in the performance of quantum cascade lasers in terahertz region at an elevated temperature. Moreover, the results also reveal that significant increase in operating temperature of a resonant phonon terahertz QCL is unlikely and hence novel design approaches should be considered for operating THz QCLs at room temperature.     

The q-Deformation of the Superoscillators and Their q-Supercoherent States

We discuss the superoscillators in thc supersymmetric quantum systems, and give the solution to the system. By making use of the annihilation and creation operators and their q-deformed operators, we also give the q-deformed quantum harmonic oscillator model in the supersymmetric quantum systems. The q-supercoherent states associated with the q-deformed supersymmetric quantum harmonic oscillators are constructed explicitly, and their properties are investigated. The uncertainty relations for q-supercoherent states are discussed as well.     

Temperature dependent characteristics of InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy

We report on the temperature dependent lasing characteristics of InAs/GaAs quantum dot lasers under continuous wave mode. The five-stacked InAs quantum dots were grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy with slightly different thickness. Ridge waveguide laser with stripe width of 6 μm was processed on the growth structure. The characteristic temperature was measured as high as infinity in the temperature range of 80–180 k. With the increase of injection current, the lasing spectra of laser diode broaden gradually at low temperature of 80 k. However, when the operation temperature increases from 80 to 300 K, the width of lasing spectrum reduces gradually from 40 to 2.0 nm. The lasing process is obviously different from that of a reference quantum well laser which widens its width of lasing spectra by increasing operation temperature. These experiments demonstrate that a carrier transfer from the smaller size of dots into larger dots caused by thermal effect play an important role in the lasing characteristic of quantum dot lasers. In addition, the laser can operate at maximum temperature of 80 °C under continuous wave mode with a maximum output power of 52 mW from one facet at 20 °C. A wavelength thermal coefficient of 0.196 nm/K is obtained, which is 2.8 times lower than that of QW laser. The low wavelength thermal coefficient of quantum dot laser is mainly attributed to its broad gain profile and state filling effects.     

Quantum Dynamics of a Harmonic Oscillator in a Defomed Bath in the Presence of Lamb Shift

In this paper, we investigate the dissipative quantum dynamics of a harmonic oscillator in the presence a deformed bath by considering the Lamb shift term. The deformed bath is modelled by a collection of deformed quantum harmonic oscillators as a generalization of Hopfield model. The Langevin equation for both the photon number and the fluctuation spectrum under the Weisskopf–Winger approximation are obtained and discussed.     

Controlled generation of momentum states in a high-finesse ring cavity

A Bose-Einstein condensate in a high-finesse ring cavity scatters the photons of a pump beam into counterpropagating cavity modes, populating a bi-dimensional momentum lattice. A high-finesse ring cavity with a sub-recoil linewidth allows to control the quantized atomic motion, selecting particular discrete momentum states and generating atom-photon entanglement. The semiclassical and quantum model for the 2D collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL) are derived and the superradiant and good-cavity regimes discussed. For pump incidence perpendicular to the cavity axis, the momentum lattice is symmetrically populated. Conversely, for oblique pump incidence the motion along the two recoil directions is unbalanced and different momentum states can be populated on demand by tuning the pump frequency.     

Generation of squeezed light upon frequency self-doubling in active nonlinear crystals with regular domain structure

A quantum theory of self-convers of the lasing frequency in active nonlinear crystals placed in a cavity is developed. The generation of nonclassical (quadrature squeezed) light upon self-doubling of the laser radiation frequency is studied in detail, with no limitations on the relations between the relaxation times of the inverse population and the polarization of the medium and the lifetime of a photon in the cavity. The fluctuation spectra of the quadrature components of the fields of the laser radiation and its second harmonic are studied in dependence on the pumping parameters and the parameters of the cavity. Numerical calculations are performed for a Nd:Mg:LiNbO₃ crystal with a regular domain structure.     

两体组合坐标表象的建立、性质及应用

为了研究具有相互作用势和运动耦合的两个非全同的量子谐振子体系的动力学问题,利用有序算符乘积内的积分技术,建立了一种两粒子体系的组合坐标新表象|η₁,η₂〉,构造了一个双模压缩算符U并分析了其压缩特性. 应用组合坐标新表象严格求解了具有相互作用势和运动耦合的两个非全同的量子谐振子体系的动力学问题. 这为研究复杂耦合量子谐振子体系提供了一个有效途径. 关键词： 有序算符乘积内的积分技术 组合坐标表象 双模压缩算符 幺正矩阵     

含时耦合谐振子系统的时间演化与双模压缩态

运用Lewis Riesenfeld不变量理论,通过适当地选取厄米不变量,得到了含驱动项和双模耦合项的含时耦合谐振子系统薛定谔方程的封闭解,给出了系统的演化算符及其产生双模光场的压缩态的条件,并得出系统压缩态的量子涨落与驱动项无关但与系统所处的初态有关的结论. 关键词： 含时耦合谐振子系统 Lewis Riesenfeld不变量理论 双模压缩态     

Numerical analysis of the effects of carrier dynamics on the switch-on and gain-switching of quantum dot lasers

A systematic analysis of the influence of the capture, inter-level relaxation and exciton dephasing time constants on the dynamic behavior of quantum dot Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers is done taking into account the lasing from the ground and excited states. The simulation results show that the carrier time constants studied influence significantly the static characteristic of the laser, its switch-on response and the pulses generated by gain-switching.