High-temperature and high-power operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers

Sushil Kumar; Alan W. M. Lee; Qi Qin; Benjamin S. Williams; Qing Hu; John L. Reno

doi:10.1117/12.768298

29 January 2008 High-temperature and high-power operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers

Sushil Kumar; Alan W. M. Lee; Qi Qin; Benjamin S. Williams; Qing Hu; John L. Reno;

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6909, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers VII; 69090I (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.768298
Event: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices 2008, 2008, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

We summarize recent development of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) based on a resonant-phonon active region design and metal-metal waveguides for mode confinement. Maximum pulsed operating temperature of 169 K is demonstrated for a 2.7 THz design. Lasers processed with the semi-insulating surface-plasmon (SISP) waveguides and the metal-metal (MM) waveguides are experimentally compared. Whereas the SISP waveguides have higher out-coupling efficiencies, the MM waveguides demonstrate improved temperature performance owing to their lower-loss and near unity mode confinement; however, this comes at the cost of poor radiation patterns and low output power. The beam quality and the out-coupling efficiency of the MM waveguides is shown to be significantly improved by abutting a silicon hyperhemispherical lens to the cleaved facets of ridge lasers. Whereas peak pulsed power of 26 mW at 5 K was detected from a 4.1 THz laser without the lens (device T_max = 165 K), the detected power increased to 145 mW with the lens with only a 5 K degradation in the maximum operating temperature (device T_max = 160 K).

Citation Download Citation

Sushil Kumar, Alan W. M. Lee, Qi Qin, Benjamin S. Williams, Qing Hu, John L. Reno, "High-temperature and high-power operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers", Proc. SPIE 6909, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers VII, 69090I (29 January 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.768298; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.768298

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