Tunable terahertz quantum cascade lasers with external gratings

We demonstrate a frequency tunable external cavity terahertz quantum cascade laser using an abutted antireflection-coated silicon lens to reduce facet reflection and as a beam-forming element, with an external grating providing frequency selective optical feedback. Angle tuning of the grating allows...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lee, Alan, Williams, Benjamin S., Kumar, Sushil, Hu, Qing, Reno, John L.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Optical Society of America 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86361
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-4053
Description
Summary:We demonstrate a frequency tunable external cavity terahertz quantum cascade laser using an abutted antireflection-coated silicon lens to reduce facet reflection and as a beam-forming element, with an external grating providing frequency selective optical feedback. Angle tuning of the grating allows a single longitudinal mode of the laser ridge to be selected, resulting in discontinuous tuning over a 165 GHz range around a center frequency of 4.4 THz. Another device exhibited 145 GHz of total tuning with 9 GHz of continuous tuning near the longitudinal modes of the laser.