Two-phonon laser operation (4. 2--77 K) of photopumped Al sub x Ga sub 1 minus x As-GaAs quantum well heterostructures

Journal Article · Mon Jul 02 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Applied Physics Letters; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.103573· OSTI ID:6733733

Nam, D W; Holonyak, N Jr; Vesely, E J ^[1]; Dupuis, R D ^[2]

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1. Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory, Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (USA) Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA)
2. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (USA)

Data are presented showing that photopumped Al{sub {ital x}}Ga{sub 1{minus}{ital x}}As-GaAs quantum well heterostructures (QWHs) are capable of stimulated emission (because of the large confined phonon population) one {ital and} {ital two} longitudinal optical (LO) phonons below the lowest confined-particle electron-to-heavy hole transition ({ital e}1{r arrow}{ital h}1). The phonon-assisted laser operation two phonons below the {ital e}1{r arrow}{ital h}1 transition ({Delta}{ital E}=2{h bar}{omega}{sub LO}=2{times}36 meV) is identified unambiguously using (on a single sample) two types of heat sink configurations, high {ital Q} to turn on and low {ital Q} to turn off the stimulated emission on the {ital e}1{r arrow}{ital h}1 (reference) transition. Because the one- and the two-phonon laser operations (4.2 K) are spectrally very narrow, narrower than that on QW confined-particle transitions, their separation affords an accurate measurement of QW phonon energy ({h bar}{omega}{sub LO}=36.1 meV).

• OSTI ID: 6733733
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters; (USA), Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters; (USA) Vol. 57:1; ISSN APPLA; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
LASERS
OPERATION
OPTICAL PUMPING
PHONONS
PNICTIDES
PUMPING
Q-SWITCHING
QUASI PARTICLES
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
SOLID STATE LASERS