Limiting factors to the temperature performance of THz quantum cascade lasers based on the resonant-phonon depopulation scheme

IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology

Volumn 2, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 83-92

  Chassagneux, Y ^a   Wang, Q J ^b   Khanna, S P ^c   Strupiechonski, E ^a   Coudevylle, J R ^a   Linfield, E H ^c   Davies, A G ^c   Capasso, F ^b   Belkin, M A ^d   Colombelli, R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ PARIS SACLAY   (France)

^b HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS   (United Kingdom)

^d The University of Texas at Austin   (United States)

Author keywords

Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs); semiconductor lasers; terahertz (THz)

Indexed keywords

DEVICE PERFORMANCE; LIMITING FACTORS; OPERATING FREQUENCY; OPTICAL PHONON SCATTERING; PARASITIC CURRENT; SHORTER WAVELENGTH; TEMPERATURE PERFORMANCE; TERAHERTZ; THERMAL ELECTRON; THZ QUANTUM CASCADE LASERS;

PHONONS; QUANTUM CASCADE LASERS; THERMIONIC EMISSION;

SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS;

EID: 84856389244     PISSN: 2156342X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1109/TTHZ.2011.2177176     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (29)

1. B. S. Williams, "Terahertz quantum cascade lasers," Nature Photon., vol. 1, pp. 517-525, 2007.
2. R. Köhler, A. Tredicucci, F. Beltram, E. H. Beere, E. H. Linfield, A. G. Davies, D. A. Ritchie, R. C. Iotti, and F. Rossi, "Terahertz semiconductor heterostructure laser," Nature, vol. 417, p. 157, 2002.
3. S. Barbieri, J. Alton, H. E. Beere, E. H. Linfield, D. A. Ritchie, S.Withington, G. Scalari, L. Ajili, and J. Faist, "Heterodyne mixing of two far-infrared quantum cascade lasers by use of a pointcontact Schottky diode," Opt. Lett., vol. 29, pp. 1632-1634, 2004.
4. J. R. Gao, J. N. Hovenier, Z. Q. Yang, J. J. Baselmans, A. Baryshev, M. Hajenius, T. M. Klapwijk, A. J. L. Adam, T. O. Klaassen, B. S. Williams, S. Kumar, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno, "A terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a quantum cascade laser and a superconducting bolometer," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 86, 2005, Art. ID 244104.
5. S. Kumar, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno, "186 K operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers based on a diagonal design," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 94, 2009, Art. ID 131105.
6. B. S. Williams, S. Kumar, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno, "Operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers at 164 K in pulsed mode and at 117 K in continuous-wave mode," Opt. Exp., vol. 13, pp. 3331-3339, 2005.
7. A.Wade, G. Fedorov, D. Smirnov, S.Kumar, B. S.Williams, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno, "Magnetic-field-assisted terahertz quantum cascade laser operating up to 225 K," Nature Photon, vol. 3, pp. 41-45, 2009.
8. S. Kumar, C. W. I. Chan, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno, "A 1.8-THz quantum cascade laser operating significantly above the temperature," Nature Phys., vol. 7, p. 166, 2011.
9. R. W. Adams, K. Vijayraghavan, Q. J. Wang, J. Fan, F. Capasso, S. P. Khanna, A. G. Davies, E. H. Linfield, and M. A. Belkin, " GaAs/Al Ga As terahertz quantum cascade lasers with double-phonon resonant depopulation operating up to 172 K," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 97, 2010, Art. ID 131111.
10. M. A. Belkin, Q. J. Wang, C. Pfügl, F. Capasso, A. Belyanin, S. Khanna, A. G. Davies, and E. Linfield, "High temperature operation of terahertz quantum cascade laser sources," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 952-967, May-Jun. 2009.
11. H. Luo, S. R. Laframboise, Z. R. Wasilewski, G. C. Aers, H. C. Liu, and J. C. Cao, "Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers based on a three-well active module," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 90, 2007, Art. ID 041112.
12. M. A. Belkin, J. Fan, S. Hormoz, F. Capasso, S. Khanna, M. Lachab, A. G. Davies, and E. H. Linfield, "Terahertz quantum cascade lasers with copper metal-metal waveguides operating up to 178 K," Opt. Exp., vol. 16, p. 3242, 2008.
13. R. F. Kazarinov and R. A. Suris, "Possibility of the amplification of electromagnetic waves in a semiconductor with a superlattice," Soviet Phys.-Semicond., vol. 5, pp. 707-709, 1971.
14. C. Sirtori, F. Capasso, J. Faist, A. L. Hutchinson, D. L. Sivco, and A. Y. Cho, "Resonant tunneling in quantum cascade lasers," IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. 34, no. 9, pp. 1722-1729, Sep. 1998.
15. T. Kubis and P.Vogl, "Predictive quantum theory of current and optical gain in quantum cascade lasers," Laser Phys., vol. 19, p. 762, 2009.
16. T. Kubis, C. Yeh, P. Vogl, A. Benz, G. Fasching, and C. Deutsch, "Theory of nonequilibrium quantum transport and energy dissipation in terahertz quantum cascade lasers," Phys. Rev. B., vol. 79, 2009, Art. ID 195323.
17. M. S. Vitiello, G. Scamarcio, V. Spagnolo, B. S. Williams, S. Kumar, and Q. Hu, "Measurement of subband electronic temperatures and population inversion in THz quantum-cascade lasers," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 86, 2005, Art. ID 111115.
18. C. Jirauschek, G. Scarpa, P. Lugli, M. S. Vitiello, and G. Scamarcio, "Comparative analysis of resonant phonon THz quantum cascade lasers," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 101, 2007, Art. ID 086109.
19. R. Ferreira and G. Bastard, "Evaluation of some scattering times for electrons in unbiased and biased single-and multiple-quantum-well structures," Phys. Rev. B, vol. 40, p. 1074, 1989.
20. O. Bonno, J.-L. Thobel, and F. Dessenne, "Modelling of electron-electron scattering in Monte Carlo simulation of quantum cascade lsaers," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 97, 2005, Art. ID 043702.
21. H. Callebaut and Q. Hu, "Importance of coherence for electron transport in terahertz quantum cascade lasers," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 98, 2005, Art. ID 104505.
22. J. H. Smet, C. G. Fonstad, and Q. Hu, "Intrawell and interwell intersubband transitions in multiple quantum wells for far-infrared sources," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 79, pp. 9305-9319, 1995.
23. G. Scalari, M. I. Amanti, M. Fischer, R. Terazzi, C. Walther, M. Beck, and J. Faist, "Step well quantum cascade laser emitting at 3 THz," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 94, 2009, Art. ID 041114.
24. E. Strupiechonski, D. Grassani, D. Fowler, F. H. Julien, R. Colombelli, S. P. Khanna, L. Li, E. H. Linfield, A. G. Davies, and A. B. Krysa, "Vertical sub-wavelength mode confinement in terahertz and midinfrared quantum cascade lasers," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 98, 2011, Art. ID 101101.
25. A. Matyas, M. A. Belkin, P. Lugli, and C. Jirauschek, "Temperature performance of terahertz quantum cascade lasers: Vertical versus diagonal designs," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 96, 2010, Art. ID 201110.
26. E. Bellotti, K. Driscoll, T. D. Moustakas, and R. Paiella, "Monte Carlo simulation of terahertz quantum cascade laser structures based on wide-bandgap semiconductors," J. App. Phys., vol. 105, 2009, Art. ID 113103.
27. H. Machhadani et al., "Intersubband absorption of cubic GaN/Al(Ga)N quantum wells in the near-infrared to terahertz spectral range," Phys. Rev. B, vol. 83, 2011, Art. ID 075313.
28. E. Benveniste, A. Vasanelli, A. Delteil, J. Dvenson, R. Teissier, A. Baranov, A. M. Andres, G. Strasser, I. Sagnes, and C. Sirtori, "Influence of the material parameters on quantum cascade devices," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 93, 2008, Art. ID 131108.
29. T. Kubis, S. R. Mehrotra, and G. Klimeck, "Design concepts of terahertz quantum cascade lasers: Proposal for terahertz laser efficiency improvements," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 97, 2010, Art. ID 261106.