Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 88: Lasers
HL 88.7: Talk
Friday, March 18, 2011, 12:00–12:15, POT 151
Single-mode Quantum Cascade Lasers Employing a Candy-cane Shaped Fabry-Perot Cavity — Peter Q. Liu1, •Kamil Sladek1,2, Xiaojun Wang3, Jen-Yu Fan3, and Claire F. Gmachl1 — 1Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA — 2Institute of Bio- and Nanosystems (IBN-1), Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany — 3AdTech Optics, 18007 Cortney Court, City of Industry, CA 91748 USA
Quantum Cascade (QC) lasers are versatile mid-infrared light sources for spectroscopic molecular sensing. Most of the applications require single-mode operation of the QC lasers, which is usually achieved by either integrating distributed feedback gratings into the laser cavity or making use of an external cavity. However, both approaches require more complicated fabrication and/or coating processes. Previously we demonstrated single-mode QC lasers employing a folded FP cavity which is essentially a monolithic coupled-cavity fully compatible with simple (no Bragg gratings) ridge waveguide laser fabrication. Those lasers have single-mode performance, high throughput and relatively lower cost. Here we present an even simpler monolithic coupled-cavity design, a candy-cane shaped FP cavity, to achieve single-facet, single-mode QC lasers. It demonstrates a straightforward path to achieving single mode operation of QC lasers. Single-mode emission from QC lasers up to ~500 mA (~70%) above the threshold current is achieved in pulsed mode operation at 80 K with a SMSR of ~25dB. Mode-hop free temperature tuning of the emission wavelength is also demonstrated.