Abstract
Quantum cascade (QC) lasers are semiconductor laser sources based on intersubband (ISB) transitions in multiple quantum well systems [1]. Their emission wavelength can be tuned across the mid-infrared (mid-IR, 5/μm<λ<24μm) and THz (65/μm < λ <200μm) ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. The applications of these compact laser sources range from chemical sensing and spectroscopy, to free-space optical communications. Most of the activity in the QC laser field has concentrated on edge-emitting devices due to the intrinsic transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization of ISB transitions, and corresponding difficulty in implementing vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers. Besides the implementation of 2nd order DFBs [2], the application of photonic crystal technology to QC lasers [3] is a possible solution to achieve surface emission. Two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals can be used to create localized microcavity laser sources that can be built as two dimensional arrays on a single chip or for large-area, single-mode surface emitting laser sources.
© 2007 IEEE
PDF ArticleMore Like This
A. Benz, G. Fasching, A.M. Andrews, K. Unterrainer, T. Roch, W. Schrenk, and G. Strasser
CK8_2 The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO/Europe) 2007
Raviv Perahia, Kartik Srinivasan, Oskar Painter, Virginie Moreau, Michael Bahriz, Raffaele Colombelli, Laurent Diehl, Marko Loncar, Ben Lee, and Federico Capasso
JWA4 Integrated Photonics Research and Applications (IPR) 2006
Kannan Krishnaswami, Bruce Bernacki, Bret Cannon, Mark Phillips, Nicolas Hô, Paul Allen, and Norman Anheier
JThD48 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 2007