Giant linewidth enhancement factor and purely frequency modulated emission from quantum dot laser

Giant effective linewidth enhancement factors, close to 60, are measured on a quantum dot laser under specific biasing conditions. Consequently, 2.5 Gbit/s purely frequency modulated signal is obtained by direct current modulation at this operation point.     

Room-temperature laser emission of GaInNAs-GaAs quantum wells grown on GaAs (111)B

In this work, we present room-temperature laser emission at 1.206 /spl mu/m from GaInNAs-GaAs quantum-well (QW) laser diodes (LDs) grown on misoriented GaAs (111)B substrates for the first time. Details of the structure and the molecular beam epitaxial growth of the lasers are discussed. We found that the postgrowth rapid thermal annealing increased the optimum emission, while the in situ self annealing effect in these QWs is almost negligible. The optimum annealing cycle (30 s at 850/spl deg/C) is comparable to that found for the cladding-free GaInNAs single QW samples grown on GaAs (111)B. Finally, the optical and electrical characterization of these LD devices is presented. The LDs show a room-temperature threshold current density of 2.15 kA/cm/sup 2/, with a differential quantum efficiency of 37%, under pulsed conditions.     

激光引信中发射单元的设计

本文设计了用于机载激光引信的激光脉冲测距发射单元,该发射单元由激光器和驱动电路构成.激光器选择纳秒级脉冲大功率固体激光器,采用半导体激光二极管作为泵浦源,提出了一种获取同步信号的方法,并对其整体结构进行了考虑.为满足引信特殊需要,为半导体泵浦固体激光器设计了专用驱动电路,解决了固体激光器在不同温度下重复频率不稳定性问题,避免了使用体积庞大的致冷器.激光发射单元工作可靠,在很大温度范围内重复频率稳定并灵活可调.5 V电源时,输出峰值功率达2 018 W、脉宽3.3 ns、重复频率达10 kHz.     

A graded index single quantum well bistable laser

The authors report the first implementation of a buried heterostructure DOES (double heterostructure optoelectronic switch), which incorporates the principles of graded-index, single-quantum-well (GRIN SQW) lasers. Continuous operation and a small signal optical bandwidth of 1.5 GHz were obtained when biased into the on-state. This is consistent with the bond pad side employed. This GRIN SQW DOES laser, fabricated in two-terminal BH form, has been shown to have properties commensurate with the growth and processing parameters employed. Although limited to two-terminal operation, performance is comparable to existing devices with similar designs     

Acoustoelectron interaction in quantum laser heterostructures

The effect of ultrasonic deformation on the polarization properties of semiconductor quantum-well laser radiation is experimentally and theoretically studied at room temperature. It is shown that the observed rotation of the polarization plane is caused by mixing of the light- and heavy-hole levels in the quantum well. Data on the splitting energy of these levels are obtained. The unique capability of the ultrasonic technique for obtaining data on the value and distribution of technological strains in the heterostructure is shown.     

A quantum cascade laser based on an n-i-p-i superlattice

We demonstrate a quantum cascade laser with a novel injection concept. Periodic insertion of silicon- and beryllium-doped layers are used to control locally the internal electric field in the active region. This concept is demonstrated experimentally using an active region based on a periodic superlattice     

Complex-coupled quantum cascade distributed-feedback laser

Quantum-cascade distributed-feedback lasers (QCDFB) with a grating close to the active region are reported. Feedback is provided by the grating in a refractive index-dominated coupling scheme. Reliable single-mode emission at /spl lambda//sub cm//spl ap/5.4 /spl mu/m with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) /spl ap/30 dB is observed. The laser is continuously tunable over 40 nm with a coefficient of /spl Delta//spl lambda///spl Delta/T/spl ap/0.37 nm/K in the temperature range from 200 K to 300 K. Comparison with Fabry-Perot QC lasers shows an overall improved performance of QC-DFB lasers.     

A dual-color injection laser based on intra- and inter-band carriertransitions in semiconductor quantum wells or quantum dots

A new type of semiconductor injection laser capable of simultaneously generating radiation in the mid-infrared (MIR) (λ~10 μm) and near-infrared (NIR) (λ~0.9 μm) spectral regions is proposed. The MIR emission is a result of intersubband (intraband) electron transitions within a three-level conduction band in a quantum well or a quantum dot. The NIR emission, on the other hand, is due to conventional interband recombination of injected electrons and holes into the conduction and valence bands, respectively. The conditions for population inversion in the intersubband emission process are determined by an appropriately engineered energy structure for a three-level system in the conduction band of a quantum well or dot structure: for the quantum-well-based system, the structure has an asymmetric funnel shape to provide long electron-phonon lifetime at the third (top) energy level. Under high carrier injection, NIR interband emission depopulates the conduction ground level of the quantum well, thereby stabilizing the electron concentration at this level-a necessary condition fur the operation of the MIR laser. This paper discusses the calculation of the population inversion conditions, the requisite gain, and threshold current for MIR laser operation. We also present a preliminary design of the laser structure with a composite waveguide that accommodates both mid- and NIR stimulated emission     

Controlled exciton spontaneous emission inoptical-microcavity-embedded quantum wells

A theory for polaritons and intrinsic spontaneous emission by excitons in quantum wells embedded in planar optical microcavities is presented. Excitons in ideal quantum wells are extended states, and the resulting spatial coherence leads to spontaneous-emission characteristics different from those for point dipoles in a planar cavity. It is pointed out that the quality factor Q of a planar cavity is typically strongly dependent upon the in-plane wave vector k&oarr; _∥ of excitation; in particular, we demonstrate that both strongly enhanced emission (low Q) as well as strongly inhibited emission accompanied by vacuum-field Rabi oscillations (high Q) occur in the same cavity at different k&oarr;_∥. Free-and localized-exciton radiative decay and radiation dynamics associated with confined and radiation modes of the optical field are considered, as well as the temperature dependence of the emission as measured in time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. Other results obtained are a two-dimensional form of the longitudinal-transverse splitting for and dispersion of exciton polaritons in the presence of a cavity     

Heavy-hole and light-hole quantum beats in the polarization stateof coherent emission from quantum wells

Dual-channel spectral interferometry is used to measure the vectorial dynamics of the the four-wave-mixing signal from a GaAs-AlGaAs multiple quantum well when both heavy-and light-hole excitons are excited. The ellipticity, the orientation, and the sense of rotation of the polarization ellipse associated with this emission are observed to oscillate dramatically at the heavy-hole-light-hole quantum beat frequency. The qualitative nature of the beating can be described by a simple model based on the density matrix equations for two independent three-level systems without the inclusion of many body effects; however, these beats are superposed on a polarization that is dominated by many-body effects     

A corner reflector InGaAs-GaAs strained layer single quantum wellcoupled laser array

An InGaAs-GaAs-AlGaAs strained layer single quantum laser array with a reactive ion etched corner reflector array as its rear facet has been fabricated. The corner reflectors play a two-fold role as a highly reflective rear mirror and as a phase-locking coupler. Phase locked operation with beam widths as low as 0.64° are obtained at pumping currents up to 4×I_th and output powers up to 60 mW. The coupling mechanism and the benefit of the corner reflector to output performance are discussed     

A novel current injected strained quantum well laser grown by MOVPE

Conventional long wavelength (1.3 and 1.55 μm emitting) GalnAsP alloy lasers suffer from two disadvantages. Firstly, carriers in the highest lying valence band have a heavy effective mass relative to carriers in the conduction band. This asymmetry leads to an increase in the carrier density required for lasing action to occur. Secondly, non-radia-tive recombination processes, such as Auger Recombination (AR) and Inter Valence Band Absorption (IVBA), which involve occupancy of the heavy-hole (HH) states, are thought to be significant in these materials. These again lead to higher thresholds and lower values ofT ₀than might otherwise be the case. Recently, there has been considerable interest in the prospect of “engineering” the band structure of a 1.5 μm emitting device so as to overcome these problems. It has been reported that for a quantum well under biaxial compression, the light-hole/heavy-hole (LH/HH) degeneracy at the gamma point will be lifted such that the highest lying valence band will be LH-like in the in-plane direction. This should reduce both the effective mass asymmetry and the thermal occupancy of the HH states, lowering the threshold carrier density and reducing the AR and IVBA rates. This paper describes MOVPE growth and characterisation of the first 1.55 μm emitting current injected strained layer laser structure. The active region contains 3.5 nm thick strained quantum wells of Ga_o.3In_o.7As situated in the central region of a quaternary waveguide and grown on InP. TEM micrographs and x-ray data demonstrate that the lattice mismatch (approximately 1%) has been accommodated elastically, without the formation of misfit dislocations. Broad area lasers have been fabricated with lengths of 200–1200 μm and threshold current densities as low as 930 Acm^-2 have been measured from the longer devices. Similar 1.55 μm emitting structures containing unstrained 7.5 nm thick Ga_o.47In_o.53As wells have also been grown and characterised for comparison. As yet, no significant improvement in either threshold current orT ₀has been observed for strained lasers over unstrained devices.     

On the interdiffusion-based quantum cascade laser

Design procedure for the active region of current pumped quantum cascade laser is proposed, so to achieve maximal gain. Starting with an arbitrary smooth potential, a family of isospectral Hamiltonians with predefined energy spectrum is generated using the inverse spectral theory. By varying the relevant control parameter the potential shape is varied, inducing changes in transition dipole moments and electron-phonon scattering times, and the optimal potential which gives the largest gain is thus found. For purpose of realization, a simple step quantum-well structure with just a few layers is then designed so that in the post-growth heating-induced layer interdiffusion, it will acquire a shape as close as possible to the optimal smooth potential.     

Deep red laser emission in Ho:YLF

Laser operation of the⁵S2→⁵I7transition in 2 percent Ho:YLF at room temperature is reported. Oscillations atlambda = 750nm were obtained in flashlamp and dye laser pumped experiments. Thresholds of 4 J/cm and3 times 10^{-4}J/cm were observed in flashlamp and laser pumped operation, respectively. The 750-nm transition in the Ho:YLF is a four-level laser with a stimulated emission cross section ofsigma = 9.7 times 10^{-19}cm².     

Room-temperature intersubband emission from GaInAs-AlAsSb quantum cascade structure

Room-temperature (300 K) intersubband electroluminescence has been obtained from a quantum cascade structure adopting triple-well vertical-transition active regions, based on Ga/sub 0.47/In/sub 0.53/As/AlAs/sub 0.56/Sb/sub 0.44/ heterostructures grown lattice-matched on InP substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The emission peak wavelength varies from 4.3 /spl mu/m at 77 K to 4.5 /spl mu/m at 300 K.     

Light emission by semiconductor structure with quantum well and array of quantum dots

A new type of composite active region of a laser, which contains an In_0.2Ga_0.8As quantum well (QW) and an array of InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in GaAs is studied. The QW acts as accumulator of injected carriers, and the QD array is the emitting system located in tunneling proximity to the QW. A theory for the calculation of electron and hole energy levels in the QD is developed. Occupation of the QDs due to the resonance tunneling of electrons and holes from the QW to the QD is considered; the conclusions are compared with the results obtained in studying an experimental laser with a combined active region.     

Lasing emission of InGaAs quantum dot microdisk diodes

An improved three-arm airbridge contacted microdisk diode structure is presented. Continuous-wave lasing from InGaAs quantum dot (QD) in a /spl sim/4-/spl mu/m-diameter microdisks is reported with the threshold current /spl sim/40 /spl mu/A at T=5 K. With the increase of injection current, the QD's emission blueshifts due to the band-filling effect, while the laser mode peak redshifts by thermal effect. When the QD's gain spectra shift out of alignment with the lasing mode, the next available whispering gallery mode starts lasing from QD wetting layer. The thermal heating effect is discussed by investigating the modes redshift with respect to injection current.