Two-well injector direct-phonon terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Nathalie Lander Gower, Shiran Levy, Silvia Piperno, Sadhvikas J. Addamane, John L. Reno, Asaf Albo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present an experimental study on a terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz QCL) design that combines both two-well injector and direct-phonon scattering schemes, i.e., a so-called two-well injector direct-phonon design. As a result of the two-well injector direct-phonon scheme presented here, the lasers benefit from both a direct phonon scattering scheme for the lower laser level depopulation and a setback for the doping profile that reduces the overlap of the doped region with active laser states. Additionally, our design also has efficient isolation of the active laser levels from excited and continuum states as indicated by negative differential resistance behavior all the way up to room temperature. This scheme serves as a good platform for improving the temperature performance of THz QCLs as indicated by the encouraging temperature performance results of the device with a relatively high doping level of 7.56 × 1010 cm−2 and Tmax ∼ 167 K. With the right optimization of the molecular beam epitaxy growth and interface quality, the injection coupling strength, and the doping density and its profile, the device could potentially reach higher temperatures than the latest records reached for the maximum operating temperature (Tmax) of THz QCLs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number061109
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume123
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 7 Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Author(s).

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the Israel Science Foundation (No. ISF 1755/23) and the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology for their grants. The data of this research were taken at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. DE-NA-0003525. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. DOE or the United States Government.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
National Nuclear Security AdministrationDE-NA-0003525
Israel Science FoundationISF 1755/23
Ministry of science and technology, Israel

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