Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are unipolar light sources wherein intersubband transitions of electrons occur in repeated layers of superlattices composed of semiconductor gain media. [1] The emission wavelength of QCLs is determined by the superlattice layer thickness and the material composition. Therefore, it can be tuned over a wide range in a given material system. [2] The typical operation wavelength of QCLs is in the mid-infrared (3.5-24 μm) and terahertz (1.2-4.9 THz). [3,4] Because the vibrational modes of many chemical compounds lie in the wavelength range of 3 to 15 μm, mid-infrared QCLs have found various applications in biological and chemical warfare agent detection [5,6] and pollutant detection, [7] and noninvasive medical diagnostics. [5] They can also be used in optical wireless communication: [8] the "terahertz gap" appears due to the absence of radiation sources in this frequency range, and THz QCLs fill the terahertz gap and have been used in imaging and spectroscopy. [9][10][11] However, the low thermal conductivity of QCL's multilayer superlattice gain medium and the ample operational electrical power cause significant self-heating in QCLs, [12,13] which, over time, results in a rise in lasing threshold current, [6] a decrease in output power, [14] and even device failure. [15] Therefore, to better understand QCL's failure mechanism, thermal analysis and monitoring are necessary for designing QCLs with optimal performance.Techniques for temperature monitoring include microphotoluminescence, [16] Raman spectroscopy, [17] thermoreflectance spectroscopy, [18] lock-in IR Thermography, [19] and infrared scanning near field optical microscopy (IR-SNOM). [20] For example, Raman spectroscopy as a non-contact thermometer was used to study output facet heating in an uncoated high-power continuous-wave QCL emitting at 8.5 μm. [17] A comparison of the spatial and temperature resolutions of these techniques can be found in Ref. [21] In this work, we report on developing an IR-SNOM technique with high temperature and spatial resolutions, both achieved by opening a subwavelength aperture at the tip of an IR fiber optic probe. We apply this technique to study the time constants in InP/InAlAs/InGaAs buried heterostructure (BH) mounted epi-layer side down QCLs--a geometry reported to have the best thermal performance by Pieŕscínska et al. [22] To verify the experimental findings, we develop an anisotropic 3D model to study steady-state and