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Title: 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:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Research Lab. of Electronics
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Center of Integrated Nanotechnologies
  3. 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}
}

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Works referenced in this record:

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Topological LC-circuits based on microstrips and observation of electromagnetic modes with orbital angular momentum
journal, November 2018


Phase-locked photonic wire lasers by π coupling
journal, December 2018


Topological LC-circuits based on microstrips and observation of electromagnetic modes with orbital angular momentum
journal, November 2018