Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing
Due to their broad spectral bandwidth and superior temperature performance, resonant phonon quantum cascade laser (QCL) designs have become the active-region of choice for many of the leading groups in terahertz (THz) QCL research. These gain media can vary substantially in the number of wells and b...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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SPIE
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113671 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5848-2389 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-4053 |
| _version_ | 1826195322904248320 |
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| author | Tzenov, Petar Jirauschek, Christian Burghoff, David Patrick Hu, Qing |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Tzenov, Petar Jirauschek, Christian Burghoff, David Patrick Hu, Qing |
| author_sort | Tzenov, Petar |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Due to their broad spectral bandwidth and superior temperature performance, resonant phonon quantum cascade laser (QCL) designs have become the active-region of choice for many of the leading groups in terahertz (THz) QCL research. These gain media can vary substantially in the number of wells and barriers as well as their corresponding thicknesses, but all such structures employ a common resonant phonon lower laser level depopulation scheme and a resonant tunneling mechanism for efficient current injection into the upper laser level. The presence of a strong anticrossing between the injector and upper laser level leads, under the right conditions, to a pronounced splitting of the emission spectra into high and low frequency lobe components around some central transition frequency. This spectral hole burning effect also manifests itself in the time domain as a form of pulse switching between signals corresponding to the two lobes of the split gain, as it has already been experimentally observed. This process was termed as a form of temporal hole burning (THB), which next to spectral and spatial hole burning, completes the plethora of dynamic "hole burning" phenomena encountered in QCLs. In this work, we investigate the temporal dynamics of THz QCLs with a strong injector anticrossing via numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch laser equations. Our simulation results show remarkable agreement with experiment and we further outline the development of a theoretical model which intuitively explains this effect. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:11:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/113671 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:11:02Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SPIE |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1136712022-09-30T19:26:44Z Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing Tzenov, Petar Jirauschek, Christian Burghoff, David Patrick Hu, Qing Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Burghoff, David Patrick Hu, Qing Due to their broad spectral bandwidth and superior temperature performance, resonant phonon quantum cascade laser (QCL) designs have become the active-region of choice for many of the leading groups in terahertz (THz) QCL research. These gain media can vary substantially in the number of wells and barriers as well as their corresponding thicknesses, but all such structures employ a common resonant phonon lower laser level depopulation scheme and a resonant tunneling mechanism for efficient current injection into the upper laser level. The presence of a strong anticrossing between the injector and upper laser level leads, under the right conditions, to a pronounced splitting of the emission spectra into high and low frequency lobe components around some central transition frequency. This spectral hole burning effect also manifests itself in the time domain as a form of pulse switching between signals corresponding to the two lobes of the split gain, as it has already been experimentally observed. This process was termed as a form of temporal hole burning (THB), which next to spectral and spatial hole burning, completes the plethora of dynamic "hole burning" phenomena encountered in QCLs. In this work, we investigate the temporal dynamics of THz QCLs with a strong injector anticrossing via numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch laser equations. Our simulation results show remarkable agreement with experiment and we further outline the development of a theoretical model which intuitively explains this effect. 2018-02-14T20:16:48Z 2018-02-14T20:16:48Z 2016-09 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113671 Tzenov, Petar, et al. "Temporal Dynamics of THz Quantum Cascade Laser Frequency Combs with Strong Injector Anticrossing." 19th International Conference and School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications, 26-30 September, 2016, Sozopol, Bulgaria. Edited by Tanja Dreischuh et al., SPIE, 2017, p. 102260N. © 2017 SPIE https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5848-2389 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-4053 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2262350 19th International Conference and School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf SPIE SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Tzenov, Petar Jirauschek, Christian Burghoff, David Patrick Hu, Qing Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| title | Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| title_full | Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| title_fullStr | Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| title_short | Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| title_sort | temporal dynamics of thz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113671 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5848-2389 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-4053 |
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