A Microscopic Approach for THz Intersubband Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26636/jtit.2009.4.1002Keywords:
band structure engineering, coupled valence bands, intersubband laser, intersubband transitions, lasing without inversion, terahertz radiationAbstract
The main candidate to be a practical and low cost high power THz source is the intersubband-based quantum cascade laser, which can have a tremendous impact in many practical applications, including last mile and indoor telecommunication systems. In this review we discuss current challenges for THz intersubband device development from a microscopic point of view. Next summarize the search for new mechanisms and structure designs that can lead to intersubband gain without population inversion. This is a very important topic of current research, since is both an extremely elegant phenomenon from the basic physics of view and crucial for effective lasing in the THz range. The reason is that scattering phenomena can lead to level broadenings of the same order of magnitude of the lasing transitions, making population inversion by carrier injection in upper lasing subbands extremely difficult. Previous work in the literature is compared and contrasted with a new scheme that may lead to high temperature lasing by engineering the nonequilibrium population inversion with a combination of band structure and many body effects mediated by a k-space filter.
Downloads
References
[1] S. Cherry, „Edholm’s law of bandwidth”, IEEE Spectr., vol. 41, pp. 58-59, 2004.
View in Google Scholar
[2] M. Koch, „Indoor THz communications: a vision for 2020”, in Terahertz Frequency Detection and Identification of Materials and Objects, R. E. Miles et al., Eds. NATO Security through Science Series. Berlin: Springer, 2007, pp. 325-338.
View in Google Scholar
[3] J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, A. L. Hutchinson, and A. Y. Cho, „Quantum cascade laser”, Science, vol. 264, no. 5158, pp. 553-556, 1994.
View in Google Scholar
[4] R. Köhler, A. Tredicucci, F. Beltran, H. E. Beere, E. H. Linfield, A. Davies, D. A. Ritchie, R. Iotti, and F. Rossi, „Terahertz semiconductor-heterostructure laser”, Nature, vol. 417, no. 6885, pp. 156-159, 2002.
View in Google Scholar
[5] S. Kumar, Q. Hu, and J. Reno, „186 K operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers based on a diagonal design”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 94, no. 13, pp. 131105-1-131105-3, 2009.
View in Google Scholar
[6] B. S. Williams, „Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers”, Nat. Phot., vol. 1, no. 9, pp. 517-525, 2007.
View in Google Scholar
[7] A. S. Zibrov, M. D. Lukin, D. E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M. O. Scully, V. L. Velichansky, and H. G. Robinson, „Experimental demonstration of laser oscillation without population-inversion via quantum interference and in Rb”, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 75, no. 8, pp. 1499-1502, 1995.
View in Google Scholar
[8] A. Wacker, „Coexistence of gain and absorption”, Nat. Phys., vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 298-299, 2007.
View in Google Scholar
[9] R. Terazzi, T. Gresch, M. Giovannini, N. Hoyler, J. Faist, and N. Sekine, „Bloch gain in quantum cascade laser”, Nat. Phys., vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 329-333, 2007.
View in Google Scholar
[10] J. Faist, F. Capasso, C. Sirtori, D. L. Sivco, A. L. Hutchinson, M. S. Hybertsen, and A. Y. Cho, „Quantum cascade lasers without intersubband population inversion”, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 76, no. 3, pp. 411-415, 1996.
View in Google Scholar
[11] G. Sun, A. Liu, and J. B. Khurgin, „Valence intersubband lasers with inverted light-hole effective mass”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 72, no. 12, pp. 1481-1483, 1998.
View in Google Scholar
[12] L. Friedman, G. Sun, and A. Soref, „SiGe/Si THz laser based on transitions between inverted mass light-hole and heavy-hole subbands”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 401-403, 2001.
View in Google Scholar
[13] R. A. Soref and G. Sun, „Terahertz gain in a SiGe/Si quantum staircase utilizing the heavy-hole inverted effective mass”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 79, no. 22, pp. 3639-3641, 2001.
View in Google Scholar
[14] G. Dehlinger, L. Diehl, U. Gennser, H. Sigg, J. Faist, K. Ensslin, D. Grützmacher, and E. Müller, „Intersubband electroluminescence from silicon-based quantum cascade structures”, Science, vol. 290, no. 5500, p. 2277, 2000.
View in Google Scholar
[15] L. Diehl, S. Mentese, E. Müller, D. Grützmacher, H. Sigg, U. Gennser, I. Sagnes, Y. Campidelli, O. Kermarrec, D. Bensahel, and J. Faist, „Electroluminescence from strain-compensated Si0.2Ge0.8/Si quantum-cascade structures based on a bound-to-continuum transition”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 81, no. 25, pp. 4700-4702, 2002.
View in Google Scholar
[16] R. Bates, S. A. Lynch, D. Paul, Z. Ikonic, R. W. Kelsall, P. Harrison, S. L. Liew, D. J. Norris, A. G. Cullis, W. R. Tribe, and D. D. Arnone, „Interwell intersubband electroluminescence from Si/SiGe quantum cascade emitters”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 83, no. 20, pp. 4092-4094, 2003.
View in Google Scholar
[17] D. J. Paul, „8-band k·p modeling of the quantum confined Stark effect in Ge quantum wells on Si substrates”, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 77, no. 15, pp. 155323-1-155323-7, 2008.
View in Google Scholar
[18] M. F. Pereira, Jr., „Intervalence transverse-electric mode terahertz lasing without population inversion”, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 78, no. 24, pp. 245305-1-245305-5, 2008.
View in Google Scholar
[19] M. F. Pereira, „Valence intersubband gain without population inversion”, Centr. Eur. J. Phys., DOI: 10.2478/s11534-009-0061-5 (in press) [Online]. Available: http://www.springerlink.com/content/j9nm0k6179g142n6/
View in Google Scholar
[20] M. S. Vitiello, G. Scamarcio, V. Spagnolo, B. S. Williams, S. Kumar, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno, „Measurement of subband electronic temperatures and population inversion in THz quantum-cascade lasers”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 86, no. 111115-111117, 2005.
View in Google Scholar
[21] M. F. Pereira, Jr., S.-C. Lee, and A. Wacker, „Controlling many-body effects in the midinfrared gain and terahertz absorption of quantum cascade laser structures”, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 69, p. 205310, 2004.
View in Google Scholar
[22] R. Nelander, A. Wacker, M. F. Pereira Jr., D. G. Revin, M. R. Soulby, L. R. Wilson, J. W. Cockburn, A. B. Krysa, J. S. Roberts, and R. J. Airey, „Fingerprints of spatial charge transfer in quantum cascade lasers”, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 102, no. 11, pp. 113104-1-113104-5, 2007.
View in Google Scholar
[23] M. F. Pereira, Jr. et al., „Characterization of intersubband devices combining a nonequilibrium many body theory with transmission spectroscopy experiments”, J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron., vol. 18, no. 7, pp. 689-694, 2007.
View in Google Scholar
[24] A. Wacker, „Coherence and spatial resolution of transport in quantum cascade lasers”, Phys. Stat. Sol. C, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 215-220, 2008.
View in Google Scholar
[25] T. Kubis, „Quantum theory of transport and optical gain in quantum cascade lasers”, Phys. Stat. Sol. C, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 232-235, 2008.
View in Google Scholar
[26] G. Scalari, S. Blaser, J. Faist, H. Beere, E. Linfield, D. Ritchie, and G. Davies, „Terahertz emission from quantum cascade lasers in the quantum Hall regime: evidence for many body resonances and localization effects”, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 93, no. 23, pp. 237403-1-237403-4, 2004.
View in Google Scholar
[27] M. F. Pereira, Jr., and H. Wenzel, „Interplay of Coulomb and nonparabolicity effects in the intersubband absorption of electrons and holes in quantum wells”, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 70, no. 20, pp. 205331-1-205331-8, 2004.
View in Google Scholar
Downloads
Submitted
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
