Unidirectional photonic wire laser
Abstract
Photonic wire lasers are a new genre of lasers that have a transverse dimension much smaller than the wavelength. Unidirectional emission is highly desirable as most of the laser power will be in the desired direction. Owing to their small lateral dimension relative to the wavelength, however, the mode mostly propagates outside the solid core. Consequently, conventional approaches to attach a highly reflective element to the rear facet, whether a thin film or a distributed Bragg reflector, are not applicable. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective technique to achieve unidirectionality. Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers with distributed feedback (DFB) were chosen as the platform of the photonic wire lasers. Unidirectionality is achieved with a power ratio of the forward/backward of about eight, and the power of the forward-emitting laser is increased by a factor of 1.8 compared with a reference bidirectional DFB laser. Finally and furthermore, we achieved a wall plug power efficiency of ~1%.
- Authors:
-
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Research Lab. of Electronics
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Center of Integrated Nanotechnologies
- Univ. of Toronto, ON (Canada). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1399492
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2017-2101J
Journal ID: ISSN 1749-4885; nphoton.2017.129
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Photonics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1749-4885
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; quantum cascade lasers; solid-state lasers
Citation Formats
Khalatpour, Ali, Reno, John L., Kherani, Nazir P., and Hu, Qing. Unidirectional photonic wire laser. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2017.129.
Khalatpour, Ali, Reno, John L., Kherani, Nazir P., & Hu, Qing. Unidirectional photonic wire laser. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.129
Khalatpour, Ali, Reno, John L., Kherani, Nazir P., and Hu, Qing. Mon .
"Unidirectional photonic wire laser". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.129. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1399492.
@article{osti_1399492,
title = {Unidirectional photonic wire laser},
author = {Khalatpour, Ali and Reno, John L. and Kherani, Nazir P. and Hu, Qing},
abstractNote = {Photonic wire lasers are a new genre of lasers that have a transverse dimension much smaller than the wavelength. Unidirectional emission is highly desirable as most of the laser power will be in the desired direction. Owing to their small lateral dimension relative to the wavelength, however, the mode mostly propagates outside the solid core. Consequently, conventional approaches to attach a highly reflective element to the rear facet, whether a thin film or a distributed Bragg reflector, are not applicable. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective technique to achieve unidirectionality. Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers with distributed feedback (DFB) were chosen as the platform of the photonic wire lasers. Unidirectionality is achieved with a power ratio of the forward/backward of about eight, and the power of the forward-emitting laser is increased by a factor of 1.8 compared with a reference bidirectional DFB laser. Finally and furthermore, we achieved a wall plug power efficiency of ~1%.},
doi = {10.1038/nphoton.2017.129},
journal = {Nature Photonics},
number = 9,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Terahertz quantum-cascade laser at λ≈100 μm using metal waveguide for mode confinement
journal, September 2003
- Williams, Benjamin S.; Kumar, Sushil; Callebaut, Hans
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 83, Issue 11
Perfectly phase-matched third-order distributed feedback terahertz quantum-cascade lasers
journal, January 2012
- Kao, Tsung-Yu; Hu, Qing; Reno, John L.
- Optics Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 11
Real-time terahertz imaging over a standoff distance (>25meters)
journal, October 2006
- Lee, Alan W. M.; Qin, Qi; Kumar, Sushil
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 14
Electrical laser frequency tuning by three terminal terahertz quantum cascade lasers
journal, January 2014
- Ohtani, K.; Beck, M.; Faist, J.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 1
Advances in small lasers
journal, November 2014
- Hill, Martin T.; Gather, Malte C.
- Nature Photonics, Vol. 8, Issue 12
Low divergence Terahertz photonic-wire laser
journal, January 2010
- Amanti, Maria I.; Scalari, Giacomo; Castellano, Fabrizio
- Optics Express, Vol. 18, Issue 6
Broadband all-electronically tunable MEMS terahertz quantum cascade lasers
journal, January 2014
- Han, Ningren; de Geofroy, Alexander; Burghoff, David P.
- Optics Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 12
Directional light output from photonic-wire microcavity semiconductor lasers
journal, August 1996
- Zhang, J. P.; Chu, D. Y.; Wu, S. L.
- IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 8
Ultrafast photonic crystal nanocavity laser
journal, July 2006
- Altug, Hatice; Englund, Dirk; Vučković, Jelena
- Nature Physics, Vol. 2, Issue 7
Tuning a terahertz wire laser
journal, November 2009
- Qin, Qi; Williams, Benjamin S.; Kumar, Sushil
- Nature Photonics, Vol. 3, Issue 12
Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers
journal, September 2007
- Williams, Benjamin S.
- Nature Photonics, Vol. 1, Issue 9
A terahertz pulse emitter monolithically integrated with a quantum cascade laser
journal, February 2011
- Burghoff, David; Kao, Tsung-Yu; Ban, Dayan
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 6
Antenna coupled photonic wire lasers
journal, January 2015
- Kao, Tsung-Yu; Cai, Xiaowei; Lee, Alan W. M.
- Optics Express, Vol. 23, Issue 13
Antenna Model for Wire Lasers
journal, May 2006
- Orlova, E. E.; Hovenier, J. N.; Klaassen, T. O.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 17
Low-divergence single-mode terahertz quantum cascade laser
journal, September 2009
- Amanti, M. I.; Fischer, M.; Scalari, G.
- Nature Photonics, Vol. 3, Issue 10
Surface-emitting terahertz quantum cascade lasers with continuous-wave power in the tens of milliwatt range
journal, March 2014
- Xu, Gangyi; Li, Lianhe; Isac, Nathalie
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 9
Wallplug efficiency of quantum cascade lasers: Critical parameters and fundamental limits
journal, June 2007
- Faist, Jérôme
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 90, Issue 25
Photonic-Wire Laser
journal, October 1995
- Zhang, J. P.; Chu, D. Y.; Wu, S. L.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 75, Issue 14
Works referencing / citing this record:
Topological LC-circuits based on microstrips and observation of electromagnetic modes with orbital angular momentum
journal, November 2018
- Li, Yuan; Sun, Yong; Zhu, Weiwei
- Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1
Phase-locked photonic wire lasers by π coupling
journal, December 2018
- Khalatpour, Ali; Reno, John L.; Hu, Qing
- Nature Photonics, Vol. 13, Issue 1
Topological LC-circuits based on microstrips and observation of electromagnetic modes with orbital angular momentum
journal, November 2018
- Li, Yuan; Sun, Yong; Zhu, Weiwei
- Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1