Terahertz quantum cascade lasers with thin resonant-phonon depopulation active regions and surface-plasmon waveguides
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
2013-03-22 v1 Optics
Quantum Physics
Abstract
We report three-well, resonant-phonon depopulation terahertz quantum cascade lasers with semi-insulating surface-plasmon waveguides and reduced active region (AR) thicknesses. Devices with thicknesses of 10, 7.5, 6, and 5 {\mu}m are compared in terms of threshold current density, maximum operating temperature, output power and AR temperature. Thinner ARs are technologically less demanding for epitaxial growth and result in reduced electrical heating of devices. However, it is found that 7.5-{\mu}m-thick devices give the lowest electrical power densities at threshold, as they represent the optimal trade-off between low electrical resistance and low threshold gain.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1303.3205,
title = {Terahertz quantum cascade lasers with thin resonant-phonon depopulation active regions and surface-plasmon waveguides},
author = {M. Salih and P. Dean and A. Valavanis and S. P. Khanna and L. H. Li and J. E. Cunningham and A. G. Davies and E. H. Linfield},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.3205},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
16 pages, 6 figures