Inserting self-assembled InAs quantum dots into quantum cascade lasers to achieve a broadband free-running frequency comb and effective radio-frequency injection.

We present what we belive to be a new band design in which self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QD) are embedded in InGaAs quantum wells (QW) to fabricate broadband single-core quantum dot cascade lasers (QDCLs) operating as frequency combs. The hybrid active region scheme was exploited to form upper hybrid QW/QD energy states and lower pure QD energy states, which expanded the total laser bandwidth by up to 55 cm-1 due to a broad gain medium provided by the inherent spectral inhomogeneity of self-assembled QDs. The continuous-wave (CW) output power of these devices was as high as 470 mW with optical spectra centered at ∼7 µm, which allowed CW operation at temperatures up to 45 °C . Remarkably, measurement of the intermode beatnote map revealed a clear frequency comb regime extending over a continuous 200 mA current range. Moreover, the modes were self-stabilized with intermode beatnote linewidths of approximately 1.6 kHz. Furthermore, what we believe to be a novel π-shaped electrode design and coplanar waveguide transition way were used for RF signal injection. We found that RF injection modified the laser spectral bandwidth by up to 62 cm-1. The developing characteristics indicate the potential for comb operation based on QDCLs as well as the realization of ultrafast mid-infrared pulse.

Above 20†GHz high frequency operation of mid-infrared doughnut-shaped microcavity quantum cascade lasers.

Microresonator-based high-speed single-mode quantum cascade lasers are ideal candidates for on-chip optical data interconnection and high sensitivity gas sensing in the mid-infrared spectral range. In this paper, we propose a high frequency operation of single-mode doughnut-shaped microcavity quantum cascade laser at ∼4.6 µm. By leveraging compact micro-ring resonators and integrating with grounded coplanar waveguide transmission lines, we have greatly reduced the parasitics originating from both the device and wire bonding. In addition, a selective heat dissipation scheme was introduced to improve the thermal characteristics of the device by semi-insulating InP infill regrowth. The highest continuous wave operating temperature of the device reaches 288 K. A maximum -3 dB bandwidth of 11 GHz and a cut-off frequency exceeding 20 GHz in a microwave rectification technique are obtained. Benefiting from the notch at the short axis of the microcavity resonator, a highly customized far-field profile with an in-plane beam divergence angle of 2.4° is achieved.

High performance distributed feedback quantum cascade laser emitting at λ∼6.12um.

Distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers emitting at a wavelength of 6.12 µm are reported. Benefitted from the optimized materials epitaxy and the modified bound to continuum transition active region design along with three pairs of phonon scattering, high device performance is achieved. For a 2-mm-long, 8.4-µm-wide device, the threshold current is as low as 130 mA, the corresponding threshold current density is only 0.77 kA/cm2, and the optical output power is 69 mW at 20 °C in continuous wave mode. The temperature of continuous wave operation can reach 100 °C, where the optical output power is still more than 8 mW. In addition, it maintains a stable single mode operation from 20 to 100 °C without mode hopping, corresponding to a total wavelength shift of 41 nm. Such low-threshold quantum cascade lasers are highly beneficial to portable and highly integrated system sensor applications.

Continuous-wave microcavity quantum cascade lasers in whispering-gallery modes up to 50 °C.

Micro-resonator-based lasers are well suited for high-density optoelectronic integration because of their small volumes and low thresholds. However, microcavity quantum cascade lasers for on-chip sensing have high thermal loads that make continuous-wave operation challenging. In this work, we designed an selective thermal dissipation scheme for the selective electrical isolation process to improve the thermal conductivity of the devices. The lasers operated at 50 °C, with 4.7-µm emission. They were fabricated as a notched elliptical resonator, resulting in a highly unidirectional far-field profile with an in-plane beam divergence of 1.9°. Overall, these directional-emission quantum cascade lasers pave the way for portable and highly integrated sensing applications.

Phase-locked terahertz quantum cascade laser array integrated with a Talbot cavity.

Increasing the power of a quantum cascade laser by widening laser ridges will lead to the degradation of the beam quality because of the operation of high-order transverse modes. We report on a phase-locked array scheme of terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz QCL) utilizing Talbot effect. By adjusting the absorbing boundary width of each ridge in the array, stable operation of the fundamental supermode is realized. A five-element array shows 4 times power amplification than that of a single ridge device. Due to the large power amplification efficiency, stable mode selection, and simple fabricating process, the phase-locked array scheme is very promising to further improve the performance of THz QCL.

Monolithically integrated mid-infrared sensor with a millimeter-scale sensing range.

On-chip sensors based on quantum cascade laser technology are attracting broad attention because of their extreme compactness and abundant absorption fingerprints in the mid-infrared wavelength range. Recent continuous wave operation microcavity quantum cascade lasers are well suited for high-density optoelectronic integration because their volumes are small and thresholds are low. In this experimental work, we demonstrate a monolithically integrated sensor comprising a notched elliptical resonator as transmitter, a quantum cascade detector as receiver, and a surface plasmon structure as light-sensing waveguide. The sensor structure is designed to exploit the highly unidirectional lasing properties of the notched elliptical resonator to increase the optical absorption path length. Combined with the evanescent nature of the dielectric loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides, the structure also ensures a strong light-matter interactions. The sensing transmission distance obtained is approximately 1.16 mm, which is about one order of magnitude improvement over the traditional Fabry-Perot waveguide. This sensor opens new opportunities for long-range and high-sensitivity on-chip gas sensing and spectroscopy.

High-performance quantum cascade lasers at λ ∼ 9†µm grown by MOCVD.

We demonstrate a high power InP-based quantum cascade laser (QCL) (λ ∼ 9 µm) with high characteristic temperature grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) in this article. A 4-mm-long cavity length, 10.5-µm-wide ridge QCL with high-reflection (HR) coating demonstrates a maximum pulsed peak power of 1.55 W and continuous-wave (CW) output power of 1.02W at 293 K. The pulsed threshold current density of the device is as low as 1.52 kA/cm2. The active region adopted a dual-upper-state (DAU) and multiple-lower-state (MS) design and it shows a wide electroluminescence (EL) spectrum with 466 cm-1 wide full-width at half maximum (FWHM). In addition, the device performance is insensitive to the temperature change since the threshold-current characteristic temperature coefficient, T0, is as high as 228 K, and slope-efficiency characteristic temperature coefficient, T1, is as high as 680 K, over the heatsink-temperature range of 293 K to 353 K.

Broad tuning range, high power quantum cascade laser at λ ∼ 7.4 µm.

In this article, we report a high power quantum cascade laser (QCL) at λ∼7.4 µm with a broad tuning range. By carefully designing and optimizing the active region and waveguide structure, a continuous-wave (CW) output power up to 1.36 W and 0.5 W is achieved at 293 K and 373 K which shows the excellent temperature stability. A high wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of 8% and 13.6% in CW and pulsed mode at 293 K are demonstrated. The laser shows a characteristic temperature T0 of 224 K and T1 of 381 K over a temperature range from 283 K to 373 K. In addition, a far field of pure zero order transverse mode and a fairly wide external cavity (EC) tuning range (280 cm-1) from 6.54 µm to 8 µm are achieved in pulsed operation. In addition, an EC single mode output power of 226 mW is obtained under CW operation at 293K.

GaSb surface grating distributed feedback interband cascade laser emitting at 3.25 µm.

A second-order distributed feedback interband cascade laser emitting at 3.25 µm was designed, grown, and fabricated. By coherent epitaxy of a GaSb cap layer instead of the conventional thin InAs cap on top of the laser structure, a high-quality surface grating was made of GaSb and gold. Enough coupling strength and a significant inter-modal loss difference were predicted according to the simulation within the framework of couple-wave theory. Lasers having 2-mm-long cavities and 4.5-µm-wide ridges with high-/anti-reflection coatings were fabricated. The continuous-wave threshold current and maximum single-mode output power were 60 mA and 24 mW at 20°C, respectively. The output power of 5 mW was still kept at 55°C. Continuous tuning free from mode hopping and high single-mode suppression ratios (>20 dB) were realized at all injection currents and heat-sink temperatures, covering a spectral range of over 20 cm-1.

Dual-wavelength switchable, mid-infrared quantum cascade laser with two shallow-etched distributed Bragg reflectors.

A dual-wavelength quantum cascade laser (QCL) with two shallow-etched distributed Bragg reflectors is designed and fabricated. Based on a heterogeneous active region within a single waveguide, single-mode emission at 7.6µm and 8.2µm was achieved. The two wavelengths can be independently controlled by selective current injection on different regions of the device, which are electrically isolated. High optical powers of about 275mW and 218mW at room temperature were obtained for the single-mode emission at 7.6µm and 8.2µm, respectively. The presented design concept for high power, dual-wavelength switchable, mid-infrared QCLs is significant in developing miniaturized multi-species gas detection systems.

Mid-wave/long-wave dual-color infrared quantum cascade detector enhanced by antenna-coupled microcavity.

We have demonstrated a mid-wave/long-wave dual-color infrared quantum cascade detector enhanced by antenna-coupled microcavity. By optimizing the size of patches, the coupling wavelength of the antenna-coupled microcavity can be conveniently tuned to match the targeted intersubband transition energy. At 77 K, the peak responsivity of our detector is 4.1 mA/W for long wave (10.4 µm) and 0.6 mA/W for mid wave (5.8 µm), while the detectivity is 1.8×109 cm·Hz1/2/W (Jones) and 2.6×108 cm·Hz1/2/W (Jones), respectively. Compared with a reference device with a 45° multi-pass geometry, the responsivity of our detector has been increased by a factor of 9.1 for the long wave and 2.7 for the mid wave. Our results illustrate how to realize a dual-color infrared detector and improve the optoelectronic performance through the concept of antenna-coupled microcavity.

Watt-level, high wall plug efficiency, continuous-wave room temperature quantum cascade laser emitting at 7.7µm.

In this article, a InP based strain-balanced In0.58Ga0.42As/In0.47Al0.53As quantum cascade laser emitting at 7.7µm is reported. The active region is based on a slightly-diagonal bound to continuum design with 50 cascade stages and a low voltage defect Δinj of 96 meV. By optimizing the active region and waveguide structure, the waveguide loss αw of 1.18cm-1 are obtained, which contribute to a high wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of 9.08% and low threshold current of only 1.09 kA/cm2 in continuous-wave(CW) operation at 293K. The maximum single facet output power of 1.17W in CW operation and 2.3W in pulsed operation are measured at 293K. The narrow ridge and buried ridge structure epi-side-down-mounted on the diamond heatsink improved the heat dissipation of the device. A beam of pure zero order mode and a broad external-cavity tuning range from 7.16µm to 8.16µm are also achieved.

Ultralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser operating in continuous-wave mode at room temperature.

We report an ultralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting at λ ∼ 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.

Low voltage-defect quantum cascade lasers based on excited-states injection at λ ∼ 8.5 µm.

A quantum cascade laser emitting at λ∼8.5 µm based on the excited-state injection is presented. The operating voltage is reduced for a low-voltage defect in the excited-state design, compared with the conventional ground-state injection design. The threshold voltage and voltage defect are as low as 6.3 V and 54 mV for a 30-stage active region, respectively. Devices were fabricated through standard buried-heterostructure processing to decrease the heat accumulation. A continuous-wave optical power of 340 mW is obtained at 283 K with a threshold current density of 2.7 kA/cm2. Such a design has the potential to further improve the wall plug efficiency for increased voltage efficiency.

Room temperature continuous wave quantum dot cascade laser emitting at 7.2 µm.

We demonstrate a quantum cascade laser with active regions consisting of InAs quantum dots deposited on GaAs buffer layers that are embedded in InGaAs wells confined by InAlAs barriers. Continuous wave room temperature lasing at the wavelength of 7.2 µm has been demonstrated with the threshold current density as low as 1.89 kA/cm2, while in pulsed operational mode lasing at temperatures as high as 110 °C had been observed. A phenomenological theory explaining the improved performance due to weak localization of states had been formulated.

Phase-locked array of quantum cascade lasers with an integrated Talbot cavity.

We show a phase-locked array of three quantum cascade lasers with an integrated Talbot cavity at one side of the laser array. The coupling scheme is called diffraction coupling. By controlling the length of Talbot to be a quarter of Talbot distance (Zt/4), in-phase mode operation can be selected. The in-phase operation shows great modal stability under different injection currents, from the threshold current to the full power current. The far-field radiation pattern of the in-phase operation contains three lobes, one central maximum lobe and two side lobes. The interval between adjacent lobes is about 10.5°. The output power is about 1.5 times that of a single-ridge laser. Further studies should be taken to achieve better beam performance and reduce optical losses brought by the integrated Talbot cavity.

High efficiency, single-lobe surface-emitting DFB/DBR quantum cascade lasers.

We demonstrate a surface-emitting quantum cascade laser (QCL) based on second-order buried distributed feedback/distributed Bragg reflector (DFB/DBR) gratings for feedback and outcoupling. The grating fabricated beneath the waveguide was found to fundamentally favor lasing in symmetric mode either through analysis or experiment. Single-lobe far-field radiation pattern with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.18° was obtained along the cavity-length direction. Besides, the buried DFB/DBR grating structure successfully provided an efficient vertical outcoupling mechanism with low optical losses, which manages to achieve a high surface outcouping efficiency of 46% in continuous-wave (CW) operation and 60% in pulsed operation at room temperature. Single-mode emission with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) about 25 dB was continuously tunable by heat sink temperature or injection current. Our work contributes to the realization of high efficiency surface-emitting devices with high far-field beam quality that are significantly needed in many application fields.

High-power electrically pumped terahertz topological laser based on a surface metallic Dirac-vortex cavity.

Topological lasers (TLs) have attracted widespread attention due to their mode robustness against perturbations or defects. Among them, electrically pumped TLs have gained extensive research interest due to their advantages of compact size and easy integration. Nevertheless, limited studies on electrically pumped TLs have been reported in the terahertz (THz) and telecom wavelength ranges with relatively low output powers, causing a wide gap between practical applications. Here, we introduce a surface metallic Dirac-vortex cavity (SMDC) design to solve the difficulty of increasing power for electrically pumped TLs in the THz spectral range. Due to the strong coupling between the SMDC and the active region, robust 2D topological defect lasing modes are obtained. More importantly, enough gain and large radiative efficiency provided by the SMDC bring in the increase of the output power to a maximum peak power of 150 mW which demonstrates the practical application potential of electrically pumped TLs.

Near-Full Current Dynamic Range THz Quantum Cascade Laser Frequency Comb.

The present study proposes a terahertz quantum cascade laser frequency comb (THz QCL FC) with a semi-insulated surface plasma waveguide characterized by a low threshold current density, high power and a wide current dynamic range. The gain dispersion value and the nonlinear susceptibility were optimized based on the combination of a hybrid bound-to-continuum active region with a semi-insulated surface plasmon waveguide. Without any extra dispersion compensator, stable frequency comb operation within a current dynamic range of more than 97% of the total was revealed by the intermode beat note map. Additionally, a total comb spectral emission of about 300 GHz centered around 4.6 THz was achieved for a 3 mm long and 150 µm wide device. At 10 K, a maximum output power of 22 mW was obtained with an ultra-low threshold current density of 64.4 A·cm-2.

Performance of a Mid-Infrared Sensor for Simultaneous Trace Detection of Atmospheric CO and N2O Based on PSO-KELM.

In this article, a field deployable sensor was developed using a self-developed 4.58-µm continuous wave quantum cascade laser (CW-QCL) for the simultaneous detection of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (N2O), both of which have strong fundamental absorption bands in this waveband. The sensor is based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) technology, which combined a multi-pass gas cell (MPGC) with a 41 m optical path length to achieve high-precision detection. Meanwhile, the particle swarm optimization-kernel extreme learning machine (PSO-KELM) algorithm was applied for CO and N2O concentration prediction. In addition, the self-designed board-level QCL driver circuit and harmonic signal demodulation circuit reduce the sensor cost and size. A series of validation experiments were conducted to verify the sensor performance, and experiments showed that the concentration prediction results of the PSO-KELM algorithm are better than those of the commonly used back propagation (BP) neural networks and partial least regression (PLS), with the smallest root mean square error (RMSE) and linear correlation coefficient closest to 1, which improves the detection precision of the sensor. The limit of detection (LoD) was assessed to be 0.25 parts per billion (ppb) for CO and 0.27 ppb for N2O at the averaging time of 24 and 38 s. Field deployment of the sensor was reported for simultaneous detection of CO and N2O in the air.