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Applied Physics Letters / Volume 99 / Issue 20 / LASERS, OPTICS, AND OPTOELECTRONICS
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Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 201103 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3661168 (3 pages)

Photonic bandstructure engineering of THz quantum-cascade lasers

A. Benz1, M. Brandstetter1, C. Deutsch1, K. Unterrainer1, H. Detz2, A. M. Andrews2, P. Klang2, W. Schrenk2, and G. Strasser2

1Photonics Institute and Center for Micro- and Nanostructures, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstrasse 29/387, A-1040 Vienna, Austria
2Institute of Solid-State Electronics and Center for Micro- and Nanostructures, Vienna University of Technology, Floragasse 7/362, A-1040 Vienna, Austria

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(Received 6 September 2011; accepted 27 October 2011; published online 14 November 2011)

We present the design and realization of active photonic crystal (PhC) terahertz (THz) lasers operating in higher photonic bands. The structure consists of an array of isolated pillars fabricated from a THz quantum-cascade laser and embedded in a double-metal waveguide. The PhC geometry is adopted to achieve lasing in the first and second photonic bands. Thereby, the optical mode is pushed from the active pillars into the surrounding. The sensitivity of local sensors can be increased by almost one order of magnitude compared to designs operating in the lowest photonic band.

© 2011 American Institute of Physics

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

optical waveguides, photonic crystals, quantum cascade lasers

PACS

  • 42.55.Px

    Semiconductor lasers; laser diodes

  • 42.55.Tv

    Photonic crystal lasers and coherent effects

  • 42.60.By

    Design of specific laser systems

  • 42.70.Qs

    Photonic bandgap materials

  • 42.79.Gn

    Optical waveguides and couplers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3661168

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0003-6951 (print)  
1077-3118 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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Figures (4) Tables (1)

Figures (click on thumbnails to view enlargements)

FIG.1
(Color online) Photonic crystal bandstructure for r/a = 0.35 and neff = 3.52.14 The inset shows a schematic of the PhC including the main crystallographic directions. The potential operational points are marked with M0 and K0 for the lowest band and M1 and X1 for the second band. The dashed lines show the group velocity for the individual photonic bands in fractions of the vacuum speed of light.

FIG.1 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.2
(Color online) Calculated lasing modes.14 The lowest photonic bands (M0 and K0) show a similar spatial distribution for both modes leading to strong gain competition. The higher modes (M1 and X1) are rotated between each other by 45°. The black boxes show the computational cells.

FIG.2 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.3
(Color online) Measured current-voltage-light characteristics for the active PhCs. The dashed gray line represents the average current-voltage curve from 131 individual active PhCs; the gray dotted line marks the corresponding standard deviation. The threshold for all devices lies between 150 and 180 A/cm2.

FIG.3 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.4
(Color online) Measured PhC spectra plotted versus the normalized frequency. The ordinate scaling is set for the lowest spectrum (red line), and the other spectra are offset by 0.1 consecutively.

FIG.4 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

Tables

Table I. Modal confinement for the band edge states. The lowest photonic mode shows a confinement of approximately 95% for both pillar radii. It drops significantly for the higher photonic modes.

View Table


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