Download or read book Theoretical and Computational Design of Terahertz Frequency Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Adam Todd Cooney and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mid Infrared and Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Dan Botez and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-14 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how the rapidly expanding area of mid-infrared and terahertz photonics has been revolutionized in this comprehensive overview. State-of-the-art practical applications are supported by real-life examples and expert guidance. Also featuring fundamental theory enabling you to improve performance of both existing and future devices.

Download or read book Design and Modeling of High Temperature Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Benjamin Adams Burnett and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between roughly 300 GHz and 10 THz is nicknamed the "THz Gap" because of the enormous difficulty encountered by researchers to devise practical sources covering it. Still, the quantum cascade laser (QCL) has emerged over recent years as the most promising approach to a practical source in the 1-5 THz range. First developed in the higher-frequency mid-IR, where they are now widely available, QCLs were later extended to the THz where a host of greater design challenges awaited. Lasing in QCLs is based on intersubband optical transitions in semiconductor quantum wells, the energy of which can be chosen by design ("bandstructure engineering"). However, simply building a THz optical transition is insufficient; a good design must also produce significant population inversion by the applied cascading electron current, and this requires deep understanding of the transport physics. So far, no THz QCL has operated above the temperature of 200 K, even though the reasons prohibiting high temperature operation are well known. The goal of this Thesis is to put novel ideas for high-temperature operation of THz QCL active regions through rigorous theoretical testing. The central enabling development is a density-matrix-based model of transport and optical properties tailored for use in QCLs, which is general enough that widely varying design concepts can be tested using the same core principles. Importantly, by simulating QCLs more generally, fewer a priori assumptions are required on part of the researcher, allowing for the true physics to emerge on its own. It will be shown that this gives rise to new and useful insights that will help to guide the experimental efforts towards realization of these devices. One specific application is a quantum dot cascade laser (QDCL), a highly ambitious approach in which the electrons cascade through a series of quantum dots rather than wells. Benefits are expected due to the suppression of nonradiative scattering, brought about by the discrete spectrum of electronic states. However, this in turn leads to a highly different physics of transport and effects that are not well understood, even in the case of perfect materials. This work will show that while the benefits are clear, naive scaling of existing QCL designs to the quantum dot limit will not work. An alternative strategy is given based on a revised understanding of the nature of transport, and is put to a test of practicality in which the effects of quantum dot size inhomogeneity are estimated. Another application is to the already existing method of THz difference frequency generation in mid-IR QCLs, which occurs via a difference-frequency susceptibility $\chi^{(2)}$ in the active region itself. For this purpose, the model is extended to enable a coherent and nonperturbative calculation of optical nonlinearities. First, the generality of the method is displayed through the emergence of exotic nonlinear effects, including electromagnetically-induced transparency, in mock quantum-well systems. Then, the modeling concepts are applied to the real devices, where two new and important mechanisms contributing to $\chi^{(2)}$ are identified. Most importantly, it is predicted that the QCL acts as an extremely fast photodetector of itself, giving rise to a current response to the mid-IR beatnote that provides a better path forward to the generation of frequencies below ~2 THz. Finally, the fundamentals of density matrix transport theory for QCLs are revisited to develop a model for conventional THz QCL designs eliminating the usual phenomenological treatment of scattering. The new theory is fully developed from first principles, and in particular sheds light on the effects of scattering-induced electron localization. The versatility of the model is demonstrated by successful simulation of varying active region designs.

Download or read book Frequency Control of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Thomas Folland and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Multi Objective Optimization in Computational Intelligence Theory and Practice written by Thu Bui, Lam and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2008-05-31 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Multi-objective optimization (MO) is a fast-developing field in computational intelligence research. Giving decision makers more options to choose from using some post-analysis preference information, there are a number of competitive MO techniques with an increasingly large number of MO real-world applications. Multi-Objective Optimization in Computational Intelligence: Theory and Practice explores the theoretical, as well as empirical, performance of MOs on a wide range of optimization issues including combinatorial, real-valued, dynamic, and noisy problems. This book provides scholars, academics, and practitioners with a fundamental, comprehensive collection of research on multi-objective optimization techniques, applications, and practices.

Download or read book Toward High Performance Broad band Frequency Comb Operation of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Chao Xu and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent advances in Terahertz Quantum Cascade Laser (THz QCL) development are pushing this technology ever closer to practical application, particularly within the spectroscopic field. For this reason, optimizing the operation of THz QCL frequency combs, which can potentially provide unprecedented accuracy and stability to the optical spectra in a broad frequency band, is of particular interest to the research community. The THz QCLs frequency comb was only recently realized using two separate techniques: either a broad-gain active region or a group velocity dispersion controlled waveguide. However, due to residual optical dispersion from both the gain medium and the cold waveguide, comb formation in these reported THz QCLs can only sustain a limited current injection region and the observed comb frequency range is much narrower than the bandwidth of the designed gain medium. To overcome these limitations, this thesis targets a new THz QCL frequency comb device design that simultaneously exploits the broadband gain active region and a group velocity dispersion (GVD)-compensated waveguide over an octave frequency band of 2-4 THz. In designing a broadband gain active region, two heterogeneous structures are proposed and simulated, with one combining three different bound-to-continuum (BTC) active regions operating at a temperature of 25 K, and another one consisting of four different resonant-phonon (RP) active regions operating at the liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K) or higher. The simulation results show that both active region designs can provide a broadband and 'flat-top' gain profile covering the frequency range from 2 to 4 THz. To design a group velocity dispersion-compensated waveguide, strategies are explored for simulating chirped Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs) that can serve as THz QCL metal-metal waveguides, and one-dimensional (1D) and three-dimensional (3D) modeling approaches are established and verified. A novel two-section chirped DBR is proposed, which provides substantially-improved group delay compensation over a broadband octave frequency range from 2 to 4 THz. Two THz QCL structures are grown using in-house molecular beam epitaxy and THz QCL devices equipped with a metal-metal waveguides are fabricated in the University of Waterloo Quantum-Nano-Centre clean-room fabrication lab. The experimental results demonstrate that the new THz QCL active region design can operate up to a maximum lasing temperature of 111 K, and with a broad lasing spectrum covering frequencies from 2.36 to 2.86 THz under pulse mode, at temperature of 13 K. The combined theoretical and experimental work would ultimately lead to the demonstration of improved THz QCL frequency comb operation over the broadband range from 2 to 4 THz.

Download or read book Design and Simulation of Terahertz Surface Emitting Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Martin F. Schubert and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Spectroscopic Applications of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Tasmim Alam and published by Cuvillier Verlag. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are attractive for high-resolution spectroscopy because they can provide high power and a narrow linewidth. They are particularly promising in the terahertz (THz) range since they can be used as local oscillators for heterodyne detection as well as transmitters for direct detection. However, THz QCL-based technologies are still under development and are limited by the lack of frequency tunability as well as the frequency and output power stability for free-running operation. In this dissertation, frequency tuning and linewidth of THz QCLs are studied in detail by using rotational spectroscopic features of molecular species. In molecular spectroscopy, the Doppler eff ect broadens the spectral lines of molecules in the gas phase at thermal equilibrium. Saturated absorption spectroscopy has been performed that allows for sub-Doppler resolution of the spectral features. One possible application is QCL frequency stabilization based on the Lamb dip. Since the tunability of the emission frequency is an essential requirement to use THz QCL for high-resolution spectroscopy, a new method has been developed that relies on near-infrared (NIR) optical excitation of the QCL rear-facet. A wide tuning range has been achieved by using this approach. The scheme is straightforward to implement, and the approach can be readily applied to a large class of THz QCLs. The frequency and output stability of the local oscillator has a direct impact on the performance and consistency of the heterodyne spectroscopy. A technique has been developed for a simultaneous stabilization of the frequency and output power by taking advantage of the frequency and power regulation by NIR excitation. The results presented in this thesis will enable the routine use of THz QCLs for spectroscopic applications in the near future.

Download or read book Development of Terahertz QCLs written by Sushil Kumar (Ph. D.) and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The terahertz or the far-infrared frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum (...) has historically been technologically underdeveloped despite having many potential applications, primarily due to lack of suitable sources of coherent radiation. Following on the remarkable development of mid-infrared (...) quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) in the past decade, this thesis describes the development of electrically-pumped terahertz quantum-cascade lasers in GaAs/AlsGal_. As heterostructures that span a spectral range of 1.59 - 5.0 THz (...). A quantum-cascade laser (QCL) emits photons due to electronic intersubband transitions in the quantum-wells of a semiconductor heterostructure. The operation of terahertz QCLs at frequencies below the Reststrahlen band in the semiconductor (...), is significantly more challenging as compared to that of the mid-infrared QCLs. Firstly, due to small energy separation between the laser levels various intersubband scattering mechanisms are activated, which make it difficult to selectively depopulate the lower laser level. Additionally, as electrons gain enough kinetic energy in the upper laser level thermally activated longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon scattering reduces the level lifetime and makes it difficult to sustain population inversion at higher temperatures. Secondly, waveguide design for terahertz mode confinement is also more challenging due to higher free-carrier losses in the semiconducting doped regions at the terahertz frequencies. For successful designs reported in this work, the lower radiative state depopulation is achieved by a combination of resonant-tunneling and fast LO phonon scattering, which allow robust operation even at relatively high temperatures. An equally important enabling mechanism for these lasers is the development of metal-metal waveguides, which provide low waveguides losses, and strong mode confinement due to subwavelength mode localization in the vertical dimension. With these techniques some record performances for terahertz QCLs are demonstrated including the highest pulsed operating temperature of 169 K, the highest continuous-wave (cw) operating temperature of 117 K, and the highest optical power output (248 mW in pulsed and 138 mW in cw at 5 K) for any terahertz QCL. Towards the bigger goal of realizing a 1-THz solid-state laser to ultimately bridge the gap between electronic and optical sources of electromagnetic radiation, QCLs with a unique one-well injection scheme, which minimizes intersubband absorption losses that occur at longer wavelengths, are developed. Based on this scheme a QCL operating at 1.59 THz (A - 189 ym) is realized, which is amongst the lowest frequency solid-state lasers that operate without the assistance of a magnetic field. This thesis also reports on the development of distributed-feedback lasers in metal-metal waveguides to obtain single-mode operation, with greater output power and better beam quality. The subwavelength vertical dimension in these waveguides leads to a strongly coupled DFB action and a large reflection from the end-facets, and thus conventional coupled-mode theory is not directly applicable to the DFB design. A design technique with precise control of phase of reflection at the end-facets is developed with the aid of finite-element analysis, and with some additional unique design and fabrication methods, robust DFB operation has been obtained. Single-mode surface-emitting terahertz QCLs operating up to - 150 K are demonstrated, with different grating devices spanning a range of approximately 0.35 THz around v - 3 THz using the same gain medium. A single-lobed far-field radiation pattern, higher output power due to surface-emission, and a relatively small degradation in temperature performance compared to the Fabry-Perot ridge lasers makes these DFB lasers well suited for practical applications that are being targeted by the terahertz quantum-cascade lasers.

Download or read book Theory and Design of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Littrow Metasurface External Cavity Lasers written by Parastou Mortazavian and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum-cascade vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting-laser (QC-VECSEL) is a recently developed compact and coherent source of THz radiation which has demonstrated excellent beam quality and scalable high-power. The key component of the QC-VECSEL is an amplifying reflectarray metasurface made up of an array of sub-wavelength metal-metal waveguides loaded with quantum-cascade (GaAs/AlGaAs) laser gain material. To further the usefulness of this technology for many applications, including spectroscopy, heterodyne detection, and multispectral imaging, broadband and tunable THz QCLs are required. In this work, I investigate the feasibility of two techniques for tuning THz metasurface-based QCLs. First, A Littrow metasurface external cavity laser (ECL) is modeled and studied. We also propose and evaluate a novel method to implement Littrow ECL based upon blazed metasurface gratings. Electromagnetic simulations show that these metasurfaces can provide up to 15% fractional tunability around the center frequency of the laser at 3.3 THz. Preliminary results on several active resonant-phonon quantum-cascade materials are also obtained. Current progress on actual fabrication and device testing is reported.

Download or read book Design Analysis and Characterization of Indirectly pumped Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Seyed Ghasem Razavipour and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum cascade laser (QCL), as a unipolar semiconductor laser based on intersubband transitions in quantum wells, covers a large portion of the Mid and Far Infrared electromagnetic spectrum. The frequency of the optical transition can be determined by engineering the layer sequence of the heterostructure. The focus of this work is on Terahertz (THz) frequency range (frequency of 1 - 10 THz and photon energy of ~ 4 - 40 meV), which is lacking of high power, coherent, and efficient narrowband radiation sources. THz QCL, demonstrated in 2002, as a perfect candidate of coherent THz source, is still suffering from the empirical operating temperature limiting factor of T [ap] h̳[omega]/kB, which allows this source to work only under a cryogenic system. Most of high performance THz QCLs, including the world record design which lased up to ~ 200 K, are based on a resonant phonon (RP) scheme, whose population inversion is always less than 50%. The indirectly-pumped (IDP) QCL, nicely implemented in MIR frequency, starts to be a good candidate to overcome the aforementioned limiting factor of RP-QCL. A rate equation (RE) formalism, which includes both coherent and incoherent transport process, will be introduced to model the carrier transport of all presented structures in this thesis. The second order tunneling which employed the intrasubband roughness and impurity scattering, was implemented in our model to nicely predict the behavior of the QCL designs. This model, which is easy to implement and fast to calculate, could help us to engineer the electron wavefunctions of the structure with optimization tools. We developed a new design scheme which employs the phonon scattering mechanism for both injecting carrier to the upper lasing state and extracting carrier from lower lasing state. Since there is no injection/extraction state to be in resonance with lasing states, this simple design scheme does not suffer from broadening due to the tunneling. Finally, three different THz IDP-QCLs, based on phonon-photon-phonon (3P) scheme were designed, grown, fabricated, and characterized. The performance of those structures in terms of operating temperature, threshold current density, maximum current density, output optical power, lasing frequency, differential resistance at threshold, intermediate resonant current before threshold, and kBT/h̳[omega] factor will be compared. We could improve the kBT/h̳[omega] factor of the 3P-QCL design from 0.9 in first iteration to 1.3 and the output optical power of the structure from 0.9 mW in first design to 3.4 mW. The performance of the structure in terms of intermediate resonant current and the change in differential resistance at threshold was improved.

Download or read book Low Frequency and Circuit Based Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Christoph Walther and published by Sudwestdeutscher Verlag Fur Hochschulschriften AG. This book was released on 2011 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum cascade lasers are unipolar semiconductor lasers based on intersubband transitions in quantum wells. They have shown laser operation from above 100 THz down to the terahertz region and are promising sources for the terahertz region (0.3-10 THz) which is lacking of efficient narrowband radiation sources. A low frequency quantum cascade laser design is developed that faces the emerging challenges when the photon energy approaches the broadening of the energy levels. A record lowest operation frequency of 1.2 THz is demonstrated. A hybrid laser-oscillator for the terahertz is developed in the second part of this work, consisting of an optical gain medium and an electronic resonator. The resonator is an inductor-capacitor resonant circuit. The so called circuit based laser has the property of being a deep sub-wavelength sized microcavity laser. The effective mode volume is among the smallest for electrically pumped lasers. The circuit based resonator in combination with an active region could lead to a class of new devices to generate and manipulate terahertz radiation that exploit cavity quantum electrodynamic effects.

Download or read book Theory and Design of Tunable Terahertz Metamaterials for Application to Tunable Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Christopher Curwen and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terahertz quantum cascade lasers are compact, coherent sources of THz power that have drawn considerable attention in the past 10-15 years for their potential use in THz applications such as spectroscopy and imaging. One of the key developments required to further the usefulness of THz QCLs is robust, broadband tenability. In this work, I describe a new technique for tuning THz QCLs by incorporation MEMS fixed-fixed and fixed-free cantilever beams into a THz transmission line metamaterial resonant cavity. An analytic model for such THz transmission line metamaterials is demonstrated using transmission line theory and is supported by 2-D and 3-D finite element simulations. Proposed processes for fabricating tunable THz transmission line metamaterials are outlined and current progress on actual fabrication and device testing is reported.

Download or read book Terahertz Technology written by Ali Rostami and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-11-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book presents information about Terahertz science, Terahertz photodetectors and Terahertz Lasers. A special emphasis is given to room temperature operation of long wavelength photodetectors based on novel quantum dots (Centered Defect Spherical Quantum Dots). Moreover, a complete analysis of systems based on Quantum Cascade structures to detect far infrared wavelengths is provided. Finally, the book presents Terahertz laser principles considering multi-color lasers in this range of wavelengths. Written as a background for graduate students in the Optics field.

Download or read book Towards Room temperature Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Chun Wang Ivan Chan and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers (THz QCLs) are arguably the most promising technology today for the compact, efficient generation of THz radiation. Their main limitation is that they require cryogenic cooling, which dominates their ownership cost. Therefore, achieving room-temperature operation is essential for the widespread adoption of THz QCLs. This thesis analyzes the limitations of THz QCL maximum lasing temperature (Tmax) and proposes solutions. THz QCL Tmax is hypothesized to be limited by a fundamental trade-off between gain oscillator strength ful and upper-level lifetime [Tau]. This so-called "ful[Tau] tradeoff" is shown to explain the failure of designs which target [Tau] alone. A solution is proposed in the form of highly diagonal (low ful) active region design coupled with increased doping. Experimental results indicate the strategy to be promising, but heavily doped designs are shown to suffer band-bending effects which may deteriorate performance. In order to treat these band-bending effects, which are typically neglected in previous THz QCL designs, a fast transport simulation tool is developed. Scattering integrals are simplified using the assumption of thermalized sub bands. Results comparable to ensemble Monte Carlo are achieved at a fraction of the computational expense. Carrier leakages to continuum states are also investigated, although they are found to have little effect. Other work in this thesis includes the optimization of double-metal THz waveguides to enable Tmax ~ 200 K, a current world record. Furthermore, laser designs to investigate the leakages of carriers to high-energy subbands and continuum states were fabricated and tested; such parasitic leakages are suggested to be small. Finally, the design of gain media for applications is examined, notably the development of 4.7 THz gain media for OI line detection in astrophysics, and the development of broadband heterogeneous gain media for THz comb generation.

Download or read book Development of Terahertz Frequency Quantum Cascade Lasers written by Mohammed Salih and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Optimization of a Quantum Cascade Laser Operating in the Terahertz Frequency Range Using a Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm written by Traci A. Keller and published by . This book was released on 2004-06-01 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A quantum cascade (QC) laser is a specific type of semiconductor laser that operates through principles of quantum mechanics. In less than a decade QC lasers are already able to outperform previously designed double heterostructure semiconductor lasers. Because there is a genuine lack of compact and coherent devices which can operate in the far-infrared region the motivation exists for designing a terahertz QC laser. A device operating at this frequency is expected to be more efficient and cost effective than currently existing devices. It has potential applications in the fields of spectroscopy, astronomy, medicine and free-space communication as well as applications to near-space radar and chemical/biological detection. The overarching goal of this research was to find QC laser parameter combinations which can be used to fabricate viable structures. To ensure operation in the THz region the device must conform to the extremely small energy level spacing range from Æ10-15 meV. The time and expense of the design and production process is prohibitive, so an alternative to fabrication was necessary. To accomplish this goal a model of a QC laser, developed at Worchester Polytechnic Institute with sponsorship from the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate, and the General Multiobjective Parallel Genetic Algorithm (GenMOP), developed at the Air Force Institute of Technology, were integrated to form a computer simulation which stochastically searches for feasible solutions.