Multimode regimes in quantum cascade lasers: From coherent instabilities to spatial hole burning

Ariel Gordon, Christine Y. Wang, L. Diehl, F. X. Kärtner, A. Belyanin, D. Bour, S. Corzine, G. Höfler, H. C. Liu, H. Schneider, T. Maier, M. Troccoli, J. Faist, and Federico Capasso
Phys. Rev. A 77, 053804 – Published 7 May 2008

Abstract

A theoretical and experimental study of multimode operation regimes in quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) is presented. It is shown that the fast gain recovery of QCLs promotes two multimode regimes: One is spatial hole burning (SHB) and the other one is related to the Risken-Nummedal-Graham-Haken instability predicted in the 1960s. A model that can account for coherent phenomena, a saturable absorber, and SHB is developed and studied in detail both analytically and numerically. A wide variety of experimental data on multimode regimes is presented. Lasers with a narrow active region and/or with metal coating on the sides tend to develop a splitting in the spectrum, approximately equal to twice the Rabi frequency. It is proposed that this behavior stems from the presence of a saturable absorber, which can result from a Kerr lensing effect in the cavity. Lasers with a wide active region, which have a weaker saturable absorber, do not exhibit a Rabi splitting and their multimode regime is governed by SHB. This experimental phenomenology is well-explained by our theoretical model. The temperature dependence of the multimode regime is also presented.

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  • Received 10 December 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.053804

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ariel Gordon1, Christine Y. Wang2, L. Diehl3, F. X. Kärtner1,*, A. Belyanin4, D. Bour5, S. Corzine5, G. Höfler5, H. C. Liu6, H. Schneider7, T. Maier7, M. Troccoli3, J. Faist8, and Federico Capasso3,†

  • 1Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 3School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 4Department of Physics, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
  • 5Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, California 94306, USA
  • 6Institute for Microstructural Science, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A R6 Canada
  • 7Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid-State Physics, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany
  • 8ETH Zürich, Institute for Quantum Electronics, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16 8093 Zürich, Switzerland

  • *kaertner@mit.edu
  • capasso@seas.harvard.edu

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Vol. 77, Iss. 5 — May 2008

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