Surface-emitting distributed feedback quantum-cascade lasers

Schrenk, W.; Finger, N.; Gianordoli, S.; Hvozdara, L.; Strasser, G.; Gornik, E.

doi:10.1063/1.1313807

Cited by 54 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…For example, in a 3D photonic-crystal cavity [33] one could have cubic symmetry and threefold degeneracies, or one could have even greater degeneracies in spherical resonators. Alternatively, in a surface-emitting distributed feedback [39][40][41][42] or photoniccrystal laser [43][44][45][46], one might have lasing occur at a "band edge" [47] in the dispersion relation. While a band edge may or may not be degenerate per se, it coincides with a singularity in the density of states [48] where a continuum of resonances occurs in a small neighborhood of the lasing resonance, and perturbative analysis might be very helpful in understanding its stability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetry, stability, and computation of degenerate lasing modes

Liu

Zhen

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. A

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We present a general method to obtain the stable lasing solutions for the steady-state ab initio lasing theory (SALT) for the case of a degenerate symmetric laser in two dimensions (2D). We find that under most regimes (with one pathological exception), the stable solutions are clockwise and counterclockwise circulating modes, generalizing previously known results of ring lasers to all 2D rotational symmetry groups. Our method uses a combination of semianalytical solutions close to lasing threshold and numerical solvers to track the lasing modes far above threshold. Near threshold, we find closed-form expressions for both circulating modes and other types of lasing solutions as well as for their linearized Maxwell-Bloch eigenvalues, providing a simple way to determine their stability without having to do a full nonlinear numerical calculation. Above threshold, we show that a key feature of the circulating mode is its "chiral" intensity pattern, which arises from spontaneous symmetry breaking of mirror symmetry, and whose symmetry group requires that the degeneracy persists even when nonlinear effects become important. Finally, we introduce a numerical technique to solve the degenerate SALT equations far above threshold even when spatial discretization artificially breaks the degeneracy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetry, stability, and computation of degenerate lasing modes

Liu

Zhen

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. A

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“…2). Previous devices that employed this architecture made use of thick top, doped semiconductor claddings in order to provide uniform current injection [23,24]. However, the use of top cladding layers limits the amount of optical field that extends above the device surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a variety of laser cavity geometries that are amenable to such intra-cavity sensing. These include porous photonic crystal laser structures [9,10,11,15,22], edge-sensitive microdisk and microring lasers [19], or top-surface-sensitive devices in which the optical mode leaks above the semiconductor surface [21,23,24]. While the former approach involving photonic crystals can theoretically provide the highest sensitivity, since the intra-cavity region is accessible through the photonic-crystal holes, these structures also are more difficult to fabricate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonstration of air-guided quantum cascade lasers without top claddings

Moreau¹,

Bahriz²,

Colombelli³

et al. 2007

Opt. Express

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We report on quantum cascade lasers employing waveguides based on a predominant air confinement mechanism in which the active region is located immediately at the device top surface. The lasers employ ridge-waveguide resonators with narrow lateral electrical contacts only, with a large, central top region not covered by metallization layers. Devices based on this principle have been reported in the past; however, they employed a thick, doped top-cladding layer in order to allow for uniform current injection. We find that the in-plane conductivity of the active region -when the material used is of high quality -provides adequate electrical injection. As a consequence, the devices demonstrated in this work are thinner, and most importantly they can simultaneously support air-guided and surface-plasmon waveguide modes. When the lateral contacts are narrow, the optical mode is mostly located below the air-semiconductor interface. The mode is predominantly air-guided and it leaks from the top surface into the surrounding environment, suggesting that these lasers could be employed for surface-sensing applications. These laser modes are found to operate up to room temperature under pulsed injection, with an emission spectrum centered around λ ≈ 7.66 µm. Roberts, "Room temperature operation of λ ≈ 7.5 µm surface-plasmon quantum cascade lasers," Appl. Phys.

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“…Surface emission has been obtained, rather, by integrating second-order gratings on edge emitting devices [5,6] or by replacing the standard Fabry-Perot cavity with a photonic crystal (PC) resonator [7,8]. The latter solution, the application of photonic crystal technology to QC lasers [9,10], is particularly appealing because of the flexibility that it allows the designer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of mid-IR and THz quantum cascade laser cavities with complete TM photonic bandgap

Bahriz

Moreau

Colombelli

et al. 2007

2007 European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the International Quantum Electronics Conference

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Abstract:We present the design of mid-infrared and THz quantum cascade laser cavities formed from planar photonic crystals with a complete in-plane photonic bandgap. The design is based on a honeycomb lattice, and achieves a full in-plane photonic gap for transverse-magnetic polarized light while preserving a connected pattern for efficient electrical injection. Candidate defects modes for lasing are identified. This lattice is then used as a model system to demonstrate a novel effect: under certain conditionsthat are typically satisfied in the THz range -a complete photonic gap can be obtained by the sole patterning of the top metal contact. This possibility greatly reduces the required fabrication complexity and avoids potential damage of the semiconductor active region. 328-332 (1993). 15. A similar phenomenon occurs in guided membrane PC structures, where it is known that the extent of the photonic gap depends on the membrane thickness. However, in the dielectric membrane structures, beyond a critical membrane thickness further reduction in thickness does not increase the bandgap due to a loss of mode localization in the dielectric membrane. The double-metal waveguide structure does not suffer from such a loss of confinement. 1957-1964 (2006

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Surface-emitting distributed feedback quantum-cascade lasers

Cited by 54 publications

References 20 publications

Symmetry, stability, and computation of degenerate lasing modes

Symmetry, stability, and computation of degenerate lasing modes

Demonstration of air-guided quantum cascade lasers without top claddings

Design of mid-IR and THz quantum cascade laser cavities with complete TM photonic bandgap

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