Design for high-power, single-lobe, grating-surface-emitting quantum cascade lasers enabled by plasmon-enhanced absorption of antisymmetric modes
- Intraband, LLC, 200 N. Prospect Ave, Madison, Wisconsin 53726 (United States)
Resonant coupling of the transverse-magnetic polarized (guided) optical mode of a quantum-cascade laser (QCL) to the antisymmetric surface-plasmon modes of 2nd-order distributed-feedback (DFB) metal/semiconductor gratings results in strong antisymmetric-mode absorption. In turn, lasing in the symmetric mode, that is, surface emission in a single-lobe far-field beam pattern, is strongly favored over controllable ranges in grating duty cycle and tooth height. By using core-region characteristics of a published 4.6 μm-emitting QCL, grating-coupled surface-emitting (SE) QCLs are analyzed and optimized for highly efficient single-lobe operation. For infinite-length devices, it is found that when the antisymmetric mode is resonantly absorbed, the symmetric mode has negligible absorption loss (∼0.1 cm{sup −1}) while still being efficiently outcoupled, through the substrate, by the DFB grating. For finite-length devices, 2nd-order distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) gratings are used on both sides of the DFB grating to prevent uncontrolled reflections from cleaved facets. Equations for the threshold-current density and the differential quantum efficiency of SE DFB/DBR QCLs are derived. For 7 mm-long, 8.0 μm-wide, 4.6 μm-emitting devices, with an Ag/InP grating of ∼39% duty cycle, and ∼0.22 μm tooth height, threshold currents as low as 0.45 A are projected. Based on experimentally obtained internal efficiency values from high-performance QCLs, slope efficiencies as high as 3.4 W/A are projected; thus, offering a solution for watt-range, single-lobe CW operation from SE, mid-infrared QCLs.
- OSTI ID:
- 22261600
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 13; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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