In this work, we propose an innovative monolithically integrated mid-infrared quantum cascade laser optical frequency comb source at 8.6 μm. The device attains a maximum continuous wave output power of 141 mW at 20°C. Improving device high-frequency response by integrating π-shaped electrodes. When the driving current is 450mA, the laser spectrum is obviously broadened from 10 cm-1 to 34 cm-1 under 25 dBm RF injection, and the spectrum presents an optical frequency comb.
Integration of ridge array and Talbot cavity is an effective method for semiconductor laser optical power amplification. However, it is difficult for such designs to work stably in the fundamental supermode, resulting in the inability to achieve phase locking among the ridge arrays. Here, we report a phase-locked scheme that significantly increases the waveguide loss of high-order supermodes by adjusting the absorption boundary width of the ridge array, making the Talbot devices work stably in the fundamental supermode. Compared with the first-generation devices, the output power of the designed device is increased from 286 mW to 359 mW, and the central brightness is increased by twice. The demonstrated phase-locked high-brightness terahertz (THz) laser sources will have great application potential in THz spectroscopy and imaging.
We have made improvements for QCL in the thermal management to produce high output power. Unlike the previous literature, we use epilayer-down mounting and buried heterostructures to achieve high output power by improving the heat dissipation and reducing the thermal resistance. At 20 K, the continuous wave threshold current density is 110 A·cm-2 and the maximum current density is 210 A·cm−2. The maximum output power is about 250 mW at single facet. The central frequency is approximately ∼4 THz, which matches the energy band design. The thermal simulation shows that, compared with the traditional device, the heat removal performance of the optimized device is significantly improved, and the core temperature is reduced by about 20 K. It improves the heat extraction through epilayer-down mounting and buried heterostructures and leads also to significant lateral heat fluxes. The ways can facilitate the heat extraction in all in-plane directions. In conclusion, this method is beneficial to the development of high continuous wave power, especially for thick active region design. The demonstration of buried heterostructure terahertz quantum cascade lasers for epilayer-down mounting can promote the development of high-power terahertz source in continuous wave.
In this letter, we introduce a very long wave infrared Quantum Cascade Detector (QCD) with a peak response wavelength of 14.5 μm based on a twin-well coupled absorption region design. Different to standard, single transition well QCDs, the twin-well design effectively enhances the absorption strength of the device and broadens the response spectrum to a certain extent. At 77 K, we observed a responsivity of 3.51 mA / W and a Johnson noise limited detectivity of 1×108 Jones. Altogether, this design resulted in detection at temperatures of up to 140 K with a calibrated black-body source by light coupling using a 45° wedge. These high performance very long wave QCDs are expected to provide pollution monitoring, deep space exploration and other applications.
Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are relevant optical sources for free-space communication because they can emit in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) domain, i.e. in the 8-12 µm region. The advantage of this optical domain is that it combines a high atmosphere transmission1 with a reduced distortion for propagating beams,2 thus the superiority of LWIR lasers in comparison with existing near-infrared systems is very dependent on link availability.3 Furthermore, QCLs are characterized by the absence of relaxation oscillation resonance.4 This peculiarity could imply a very large modulation bandwidth, even if QCL structures still need to be optimized to avoid parasitic effects.5 Recent experimental efforts have highlighted the potential of QCL-based free-space communication systems6–8 and the current 4 Gbits/s record rate is expected to be outperformed in the near future with bandwidth-enhanced structures.9 This work describes a free-space live video broadcasting with a room-temperature QCL emitting at 8.1 µm. The video file is encoded in uncompressed high-definition format (1280 pixels x 720 pixels) and this corresponds to a data rate of 1.485 Gbits/s with on-off keying scheme. This high-speed electrical signal is directly injected in the QCL via the AC port of a bias tee. The modulated optical signal from the QCL is retrieved with a Mercury-Cadmium-Telluride detector and the resulting electrical signal is sent to a TV monitor where the video can be watched in live. The current findings demonstrate the versatility of a communication system with QCLs and this paves the way for real-field applications
Room-temperature continuous wave (CW) operation of a tunable external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) at center wavelength around 7.2 μm is presented. The EC-QCL was implemented in a Littrow configuration. The gain chip is based on a diagonal bound-to-continuum design with a high-reflection coating on the back facet. A two-layer antireflection (AR) coating consisting of Al2O3 and ZnSe was designed and deposited on the front facet of the chip to suppress the Fabry–Pérot modes. With this AR coating, single-mode tuning range of 128 cm−1 was achieved, from 1346.7 to 1475.3 cm−1 (6.78 to 7.43 μm). High side-mode suppression ratio over 30 dB was achieved near the center gain region. A very low-threshold current density of 0.89 kA/cm2 and a high output power of 50 mW were obtained when the EC-QCL was operated in CW mode at 20°C.
Quantum cascade detectors (QCDs) are photovoltaic devices: they have a built in
asymmetric conduction band potential formed by energy band engineering design,
which allows for biasless operation. In this work, we focus on the very long wave
infrared (VLWIR) quantum cascade photodectors involving energy band engineering,
material technology, and devices physics. Targeting the common applications, we
demonstrate a series of VLWIR QCDs from 14 to 20μm. The dark current density
under 1.1×10-11 Acm-2 and the detectivity above 1×1011 cmHz1/2W-1 is achieved.
Many of them exhibit high performance and give a cheerful prospect for the practical
application in the near future.
Infrared detection within the atmospheric window between 3 to 5μm has gained great interest because of its wide range
of applications, such as eye-safe free-space optical communication links and high-precision time-of-flight measurements
used in 3D imaging. In this letter, we report on the characteristics of two InP-based strain-compensated InGaAs/InAlAs
quantum cascade detectors (QCDs) detecting around 4 μm and 4.5 μm, which are promising candidates for applications
in this wavelength range. Maximal responsivity values of 11.43mA/W at 180K and 10.1 mA/W at 78K and Johnson
noise limited detectivities of 2.43×1010 and 2×1010 Jones at 78K, for the 4.5 μm and the 4 μm device, respectively, were
obtained. In addition, both devices can work up to room temperature with responsivities of 0.81 mA/W(4.5μm) and 1.64
mA/W(4μm).
We designed and demonstrated a series of surface emitting quantum cascade lasers
within the range of 4.5-9.0μm with different kinds of grating structure. The 2-order
Bragg grating structure were exposed on top of the materials by means of optical
lithography or holography and realized by deeper wet chemical etching. Many of
these devices exhibit high performance in single-mode characteristics, operation
temperature, and far field characteristics. These results give a cheerful prospect for the
sensing and medical diagnosis application in the near future.
We report the design and fabrication of terahertz quantum cascade lasers at about 3 THz that use semi-insulating
surface-plasmon waveguide for optical mode confinement The single-mode operations are realized by employing
one-dimensional first-order distributed-feedback (DFB) and photonic crystal distributed-feedback (PCDFB) resonators,
respectively. The single-mode operation of up to 88 K and peak power of 9.5 mW at 10 K for the DFB devices is
obtained. The PCDFB devices also emit a single frequency at above 50 K.
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