Phase-locking of surface-emitting THz quantum cascade laser arrays

Gangyi Xu; Yacine Halioua; Raffaele Colombelli; Suraj P. Khanna; Lianhe Li; Edmund H. Linfield; A. Giles Davies; Harvey Beere; David A. Ritchie

doi:10.1117/12.2004125

4 February 2013 Phase-locking of surface-emitting THz quantum cascade laser arrays

Gangyi Xu, Yacine Halioua, Raffaele Colombelli, Suraj P. Khanna, Lianhe Li, Edmund H. Linfield, A. Giles Davies, Harvey Beere, David A. Ritchie

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8631, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices X; 86310F (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2004125
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We first discuss and review a novel technique to obtain efficient surface-emission in terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz-QCLs). We report high-power, single-mode surface-emission by using graded photonic heterostructures (GPH) as resonators. Peak output powers of ~100 mW and differential efficiency of 230mW/A are achieved at frequency ~ 3.4THz, the maximum operation temperature being 120K in pulsed mode. Combining with the active region based on the bound-to-continuum design, we also achieved continuous-wave (CW) operation of GPH THz QC lasers, with the maximum output power of 3.8 mW at 2.7THz. We then discuss the prospects to develop phase-locked arrays of these devices, in order to take advantage of their good wall-plug efficiency (<0.3%) and single-lobed directional beam pattern. As an initial result, a very robust approach to phase-lock second-order distributed feedback (DFB) THz QC laser arrays (pairs in this case) is demonstrated.

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Gangyi Xu, Yacine Halioua, Raffaele Colombelli, Suraj P. Khanna, Lianhe Li, Edmund H. Linfield, A. Giles Davies, Harvey Beere, and David A. Ritchie "Phase-locking of surface-emitting THz quantum cascade laser arrays", Proc. SPIE 8631, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices X, 86310F (4 February 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2004125

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