Abstract

The control of heat dissipation in semiconductor lasers is in general of importance. Especially in the case of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) [1], this problem has to be treated with great attention. The superlattice structure of the active region strongly reduces the thermal conductivity in the direction of the growth direction [2]. Due to the low energy spacing of the upper and lower laser state in terahertz QCLs, population inversion in difficult to achieve at higher temperatures, what limits the maximum operating temperature to 200 K [3]. Additionally, the inherent emission of phonons in the active region converts a large amount of electrical input power into heat that has to be dissipated.

© 2019 IEEE