Phenomenological scattering-rate model for the simulation of the current density and emission power in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

Journal Article · Thu Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4945364· OSTI ID:22594556

Kurlov, S. S. ^[1]; Flores, Y. V.; Elagin, M.; Semtsiv, M. P.; Masselink, W. T. ^[1]; Schrottke, L.; Grahn, H. T. ^[2]; Tarasov, G. G. ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany)
2. Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Hausvogteiplatz 5–7, 10117 Berlin (Germany)
3. Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences, pr. Nauki 45, Kiev-03028 (Ukraine)

A phenomenological scattering-rate model introduced for terahertz quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) [Schrottke et al., Semicond. Sci. Technol. 25, 045025 (2010)] is extended to mid-infrared (MIR) QCLs by including the energy dependence of the intersubband scattering rates for energies higher than the longitudinal optical phonon energy. This energy dependence is obtained from a phenomenological fit of the intersubband scattering rates based on published lifetimes of a number of MIR QCLs. In our approach, the total intersubband scattering rate is written as the product of the exchange integral for the squared moduli of the envelope functions and a phenomenological factor that depends only on the transition energy. Using the model to calculate scattering rates and imposing periodical boundary conditions on the current density, we find a good agreement with low-temperature data for current-voltage, power-current, and energy-photon flux characteristics for a QCL emitting at 5.2 μm.

• OSTI ID: 22594556
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 13; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
EMISSION
ENERGY DEPENDENCE
LASERS
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
PERIODICITY
PHONONS
PHOTONS
SCATTERING
SIMULATION
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0065-0273 K