Quantum cascade laser roadmap
Abstract
Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are unipolar semiconductor lasers first demonstrated in 1994. Since then, they have played a central role in advancing mid-infrared and terahertz photonics, becoming among the most reliable light sources in these regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Their importance is further reinforced by their ability to generate self-starting optical frequency combs, whose investigation is motivated both by fundamental physics and by a wide range of applications, including molecular spectroscopy and free-space optical communications. This Roadmap provides a unified overview of current advances and emerging directions in QCL research. The chapters are organized into three main sections: device design and technology; frequency combs and pulse formation; and applications of QCLs. Each chapter reviews the relevant background, summarizes the current state of the art, and identifies key challenges and future directions within its specific research area.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.17042,
title = {Quantum cascade laser roadmap},
author = {Carlo Silvestri and Aleksandar D. Rakić and Dragan Indjin and Ali Khalatpour and Christian Jirauschek and Aleksandar Demic and Zoran Ikonic and Paul Dean and Nikola Vuković and Jelena Radovanović and Lianhe Li and Edmund Linfield and Michael Jaidl and Karl Unterrainer and Giacomo Scalari and Jérôme Faist and Lorenzo Luigi Columbo and Massimo Brambilla and Marco Piccardo and Sukhdeep Dhillon and Mithun Roy and David Burghoff and Karl Bertling and Jari Torniainen and Xiaoqiong Qi and Thomas Taimre and Olivier Spitz and Frédéric Grillot and Marilena Giglio and Angelo Sampaolo and Pietro Patimisco and Vincenzo Spagnolo and Eva A. A. Pogna and Xiao Guo and Rainer Hillenbrand and Mengkun Liu and Michael Brünig and Adrian Cernescu and Alexander A. Govyadinov and Tecla Gabbrielli and Jacopo Pelini and Irene La Penna and Alessia Sorgi and Paolo De Natale and Davide Mazzotti and Iacopo Galli and Luigi Consolino and Francesco Cappelli and Simone Borri},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.17042},
year = {2026}
}