Optically pumped intersubband lasers based on quantum wells

A far infrared (FIR) laser based on intersubband transitions in quantum wells is proposed where a pumping laser is used to create population inversion in the structure. The goal is to develop a structure which operates essentially as a 4-level laser, to minimize bottlenecking of the lower laser state. Multiple quantum wells can be used in the active laser of these structures to enhance the laser gain and the minimum required reflectivity in the cavity structure. The possibility of using both conduction and valence band quantum-well structures are investigated. Our study shows that, due to high intersubband scattering rates in the valence band structure, the creation of population inversion is more difficult and requires a high pumping power density while in the conduction band structure, population inversion can be achieved by a moderate pumping power density. The maximum population inversion in the conduction band structure is estimated to be 2.1×10¹¹ cm², which requires a pumping power density 2 kW cm^-2 for a single quantum well. The threshold power as well as the minimum required reflectivity of the cavity structure for the conduction band scheme are estimated for different well numbers     

Optically pumped atomic thulium lasers

A thulium vapor column is irradiated with the fourth harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser at 266 nm. The near coincidence with a dipole allowed transition from ground state results in efficient optical pumping yielding 87 simultaneous superfluorescent laser transitions from 300 to 900 nm. Many of the emissions are due to inversions to the ground state of both neutral and singly ionized Tm atoms.     

Optically pumped semiconductor platelet lasers

Tunable CW laser action of platelet semiconductors is reported in both mode-locked and unmode-locked configurations. The gain media are platelets of CdS, CdSe, CdSSe, and InGaAsP cooled to 85 K and longitudinally pumped by an argon-ion laser. Antireflection (AR) coating of the crystal face and external bandwidth restriction have been used to generate pulses as short as 4 ps. The pulses observed are chirped, with nontransform limited time-bandwidth products of about 1.7. The energy conversion efficiency is 20 percent into the TEM00mode, with output powers of over 10 mW from CdS.     

Optically pumped CW dimer lasers

Bound-bound electronic transitions in simple molecules are generally suited to realize efficient multiline laser oscillation in the visible and ultraviolet spectral region. By means of optical excitation with argon and krypton lasers, CW laser oscillation could be obtained for various homonuclear diatomic (dimer) molecules such as Li2, Na2, K2, Bi2, S2, Te2, and I2, with emission of several hundred laser lines in the spectral range of about 400-1350 nm. The principles of these lasers and the general dependence of threshold and output power on temperature, pressure, length of vapor zone, and some other parameters is discussed. To achieve satisfactory CW operation, low quenching losses for the upper laser level population and a sufficiently fast relaxation of the population of the lower laser level are necessary. Under optimum operation conditions, efficiencies up to 15 percent, multiline output powers up to 400 mW, and single line-single frequency output powers up to 200 mW were achieved. These dimer lasers are three-level laser systems. In case of coherent optical excitation, two-photon or Raman-type processes contribute to the amplification process. Due to these mechanisms the forward direction is strongly favored and in a ring laser system spontaneous unidirectional oscillation is obtained. By means of a suitable three-level model, analytical and numerical calculations of gain profiles are performed and compared with experiments. These optically pumped molecular lasers are suited for various spectroscopic and kinetic investigations, for frequency standards or as simple and efficient systems to convert pump laser radiation into other spectral regions.     

Optically pumped semiconductor nanowire lasers

This paper reviews our recent work on fabrication,optical characterization and lasing application of semiconductor nanowires,with brief introduction of related work from many other groups.     

Optically pumped submillimeter wave semiconductor lasers

An optically pumped multiple quantum well (MQW) submillimeter wave (SMMW) laser is proposed and designed. The laser can potentially generate significant power in the far-infrared regime. It is based on pumping of a series of InGaAs-GaAs quantum wells with a CO₂ laser. The excited electrons created by the pumping process tunnel into the upper of two subband states in an AlGaAs-GaAs quantum well grown in series with the absorption wells, and thereby give rise to a population inversion between these two states which are tuned to the SMMW frequency desired. The authors present the key concepts of the new device and some designed device structures     

Optically pumped continuously tunable high-pressure molecular lasers

Recent developments in the optical pumping of high-pressure molecular lasers, particularly continuously tunable high- pressure molecular lasers, are described. Included are some experimental results on optically pumped pure CO2lasers, optically pumped ultrahigh-pressure CO2-He lasers, and optically pumped N2O/CO2transfer lasers. Recent efforts to use the output from these devices for high-resolution infrared spectroscopy are also described.     

Gain in injection lasers based on self-organized quantum dots

The analytical form of the dependence of the gain on pump current density for lasers with an active region based on self-organized quantum dots is derived in a simple theoretical model. The proposed model is shown to faithfully describe experimental data obtained for laser diodes based on InGaAs quantum dots in an AlGaAs/GaAs matrix, as well as InAs quantum dots in an InGaAs/InP matrix. The previously observed gain saturation and switching of the lasing from the ground state to an excited state of the quantum dots are studied. The influence of the density of quantum-dot arrays on the threshold characteristics of lasers based on them is examined on the basis of this model. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 215–223 (February 1999)     

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers based on submonolayer InGaAs quantum dots

Molecular beam epitaxy-grown 0.98-/spl mu/m vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a three-stack submonolayer (SML) InGaAs quantum-dot (QD) active region and fully doped Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As-GaAs DBRs was studied. Large-aperture VCSELs demonstrated internal optical losses less than 0.1% per one pass. Single-mode operation throughout the whole current range was observed for SML QD VCSELs with the tapered oxide apertures diameter less than 2 /spl mu/m. Devices with 3-/spl mu/m tapered-aperture showed high single-mode output power of 4 mW and external quantum efficiency of 68% at room temperature.     

Optically pumped LPE-grown Hg1−xCdxTe lasers

Liquid phase epitaxially-grown HgCdTe crystals, which were cooled to approximately 12 K and optically pumped with a Nd:YAG laser were found to lase continuously at 2.79 Μm. In addition, pulsed laser emission in several HgCdTe crystals was observed at 77 K in the wavelength range from 1. 25 to 2. 97 Μm using a O-switched Nd:YAG laser. This work was sponsored by the Department of the Air Force.     

Device characteristics of long-wavelength lasers based on self-organized quantum dots

The current state of the field of semiconductor lasers operating in the spectral range near 1.3 ??m and with an active region represented by an array of self-organized quantum dots is reviewed. The threshold and temperature characteristics of such lasers are considered; the problems of overcoming the gain saturation and of an increase in both the differential efficiency and emitted power are discussed. Data on the response speed under conditions of direct modulation and on the characteristics of lasers operating with mode synchronization are generalized. Nonlinear gain saturation, the factor of spectral line broadening, and the formation of broad gain and lasing spectra are discussed.     

Optically pumped blue-green vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

Optically pumped vertical cavity laser operation up to T=260K has been achieved in the 480-500 nm-wavelength range in ZnCdSe-ZnSSe-ZnMgSSe pseudomorphic separate confinement heterostructures, containing three active quantum well layers and dielectric high reflectivity mirrors     

Optically pumped GaAs lasers with two-dimensional Bragg reflectors

We report experiments on oscillations of a new two-dimensional distributed-feedback (DFB) laser. A pair of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) and another perpendicular corrugation were formed on a GaAs crystal and the sample was optically pumped at 77 K. We observed oscillation of a two-dimensional mode in addition to that of a one-dimensional mode.     

Stark effect in vertically coupled quantum dots in InAs-GaAs heterostructures

The results of studies of hole energy states in vertically coupled quantum dots in InAs-GaAs p-n heterostructures by deep-level transient spectroscopy are reported. Spectra were recorded at different reverse-bias voltages. Levels related to bonding and antibonding s and p states of vertically coupled quantum dots were revealed. The energies of these states significantly depend on an external electric field applied to a heterostructure. This dependence was attributed to the quantum-dimensional Stark effect for the hole states of vertically coupled quantum dots. In addition to this, it was found that the energy of thermal activation of carriers from vertically coupled quantum dots depends on the conditions of isochronous annealing that was carried out both with the reverse bias switched-on and switched-off and both in the presence and absence of illumination. These changes, as in the case of isolated quantum dots, are typical of a bistable electrostatic dipole formed by carriers, localized in a coupled quantum dot, and ionized lattice point defects. The built-in electric field of this dipole reduces the energy barrier for the carriers in the coupled quantum dot. The investigated structures with vertically coupled quantum dots were grown using molecular-beam epitaxy taking account of self-assembling effects.     

Engineering laser gain spectrum using electronic vertically coupled InAs-GaAs quantum dots

Continuous large-broad laser gain spectra near 1.3 /spl mu/m are obtained using an active region of electronic vertically coupled (EVC) InAs-GaAs quantum dots (QDs). A wide continuous electroluminescence spectrum, unlike that from conventional uncoupled InAs QD lasers, was obtained around 230 nm (below threshold) with a narrow lasing spectrum. An internal differential quantum efficiency as high as 90%, a maximum measured external differential efficiency of 73% for a stripe-length of L=1 mm, and a threshold current density for zero total optical loss as low as 7 A/cm/sup 2/ per QD layer were achieved.     

Room-temperature optically pumped InAs/GaAs quantum dots microdisk lasers on SiO2/Si chip

We report on room temperature continuous-wave optically pumped InAs/GaAs quantum dot whispering gallery mode microdisk lasers,heterogeneously integrated on silica/silicon chips.The microdisks are fabricated by photolithography and inductively coupled plasma etching.The lasing wavelength is approximately 1200 nm and the obtained lowest laser threshold is approximately 28μW.The experimental results show an approach of possible integrated Ⅲ-Ⅴ optical active materials on silica/silicon chip for low threshold WGM microdisk lasers.     

Injection lasers based on InGaAs quantum dots in an AlGaAs matrix

Arrays of vertically coupled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) in an AlGaAs matrix have been used in injection lasers. Increase in the band gap of a matrix material by replacement of a GaAs matrix with an AlGaAs one led to dramatic increase in quantum dot localization energy. By using this approach, we reduced the thermal population of the matrix and wetting layer states and thus decreased room temperature threshold current density to 63 A/cm², increased differential efficiency up to 65%, and achieved room temperature continuous wave operation with output power of 1 W. Negative characteristic temperature has been observed in temperature dependence of threshold current density of these lasers in some temperature range. A qualitative explanation assuming a transition from non-equilibrium to Fermi population of QD states is proposed.     

Optically pumped all-epitaxial wafer-fused 1.52 μmvertical-cavity lasers

The authors demonstrate for the first time the room-temperature pulsed operation of all-epitaxial vertical cavity lasers operating at 1.52 μm using optical pumping. The laser cavity is formed by bonding an MOCVD-grown InGaAsP/InP mirror to an MBE-grown AlAs/GaAs mirror using the wafer fusion technique     

X-Ray diffraction analysis of multilayer InAs-GaAs heterostructures with InAs quantum dots

Multilayer InAs-GaAs structures with an array of vertically aligned InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix, grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, were investigated by crystal truncation rods and high-resolution x-ray diffractometry methods. It was shown that the formation of scattering objects such as vertically aligned quantum dots in the structures strongly influences the mechanism of diffraction scattering of x-rays and changes the spatial distribution of the diffracted radiation. This is explained by the appearance of additional long-range order in the lateral arrangement of the scattering objects in the periodic structures, by the curving of the crystallographic planes in the periodic part of the structure, and by the quasiperiodicity of the deformation profile due to the vertically coupled quantum dots. The observed spatial distribution of the diffracted intensity can be explained qualitatively on the basis of a new model where the scattering layers with quantum dots consist of defect-free, coherently coupled, InAs and GaAs clusters. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 1359–1368 (November 1999)     

Electrically pumped lasing from CdSe quantum dots

Fabrication of a ZnSe-based laser diode which employs a fivefold CdSe quantum dot stack separated by ZnSSe spacer layers of high S content is reported. For the first time, electrically pumped room-temperature lasing from such quantum dots was obtained at a wavelength around 560.5 nm. The threshold current density is 7.5 kA/cm ²