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Title: Tunable single-mode slot waveguide quantum cascade lasers

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4875711· OSTI ID:22273374
; ;  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. NOVITAS, Nanoelectronics Centre of Excellence, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798 (Singapore)
  2. Power Energy and Environmental Research Institute, Covina, California, 91722 (United States)

We report experimental demonstration of tunable, monolithic, single-mode quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) at ∼10 μm with a two-section etched slot structure. A single-mode tuning range of 77 cm{sup −1} (785 nm), corresponding to ∼7.8% of the relative tuning range, was realized with a ∼20 dB side mode suppression ratio within the whole tuning range. Compared with integrated distributed feedback QCLs, our devices have the advantages of easy fabrication and a broader tuning range. Further theoretical analyses and numerical simulations show that it is possible to achieve a broad continuous tuning range by optimizing the slot structures. The proposed slot-waveguide design could provide an alternative but simple approach to the existing tuning schemes for realizing broadly continuous tunable single-mode QCLs.

OSTI ID:
22273374
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 20; 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