Ultralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser operating in continuous-wave mode at room temperature.
Opt Express
; 28(24): 36497-36504, 2020 Nov 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33379742
ABSTRACT
We report an ultralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting at λ â¼ 4.6 µm operating in continuous-wave mode at room temperature. The ultralow power consumption is achieved by using a high gain active region and shortening the device size. For the device with a 0.5-mm-long cavity and 3.2-µm-wide ridge, the threshold power consumption is as low as 0.26 W with an optical output power of 12.6 mW at 10 °C in continuous-wave mode, which represents the world's most advanced level. Furthermore, the threshold power consumption varies linearly with the operating temperature, where the linear change rate of 2.3 mW/K from 10 to 40 °C is low. As a result, the devices also show low threshold power consumption values of 0.33 W even at 40 °C in continuous-wave mode with an optical output power of 6.1 mW. In addition, the lasers can maintain a single-mode operation due to the short cavity length even if no distributed feedback grating is applied.
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MEDLINE
Language:
En
Year:
2020
Type:
Article