Electron-to-photon noise transfer in midinfrared semiconductor lasers
Year: 2026
Authors: La Penna I., Gabbrielli T., Borri S., Consolino L., Cappelli F., De Natale P., Hinkov B., Weih R., Akikusa N., Mischi L., Montori A.
Autors Affiliation: LENS European Lab Nonlinear Spect, Via Carrara 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; CNR Ist Nazl Ottica, Largo Fermi 6, I-50125 Florence, Florence, Italy; Silicon Austria Labs GmbH, Europastr 12, A-9524 Villach, Austria; Nanoplus Nanosyst & Technol GmbH, Gleimershauser Str 10, D-98617 Meiningen, Germany; Hamamatsu Photon KK, SSD Adv Innovat Headquarters, Shizuoka 4312103, Japan; ppqSense, Viale Ariosto 492B, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
Abstract: Noise characteristics of state-of-the art light sources are crucial parameters in understanding their limitations regarding quantum applications. This work describes a method to study the electrical noise transfer of current driver sources to the intensity noise of midinfrared emission by commercial quantum and inter-band cascade lasers (QCLs and ICLs, respectively). A current driver with sub-shot-electrical-noise in a specific frequency range (up to 10 dB below the shot-noise level) was developed for this purpose. This enables testing of the performance of midinfrared lasers when they are driven via such a quiet pump source. By using this current driver, we identify the fundamental noise of a QCL and an ICL, which is the laser intensity noise resulting solely from the internal dynamics of the laser under test. The proposed method allows us to retrieve the noise transfer function from current to light, showing that the main limitations in observing the quantum properties of the emitted photons come from laser excess noise and poor matching between the laser and the detection system in terms of bandwidth and optical power. From the analysis of the measured parameters, we highlight current technological limitations and suggest which key features should be optimized in midinfrared systems for matching the performance required by quantum applications.
Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW APPLIED
Volume: 25 (4) Pages from: 44006-1 to: 44006-13
More Information: The authors acknowledge financial support from the European Union’s NextGenerationEU program with the I-PHOQS infrastructure (IR0000016, ID D2B8D520, CUP B53C22001750006) Integrated Infrastructure Initiative in Photonic and Quantum Sciences, from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program with the Laserlab-Europe project (Grant Agreement No. 871124) and th e MUQUABIS project (Grant Agreement No. 101070546) Multiscale Quantum Bio-imaging and Spectroscopy, from the European Union’s QuantERA II (Grant Agreement No. 101017733) QATACOMB project Quantum Correlations in Terahertz QCL Combs, from the Italian ESFRI Roadmap (Extreme Light Infrastructure project), from the Italian Ministero dell’Universita e della Ricerca (Project No. PRIN-2022KH2KMT QUAQK), from ASI and CNR under the joint project Laboratori congiunti ASI-CNR nel settore delle Quantum Technologies (QASINO) (Implementation Agreement No. 2023-47-HH.0), and from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) through the project ATMO-SENSE (Grant Agreement No. 1516332).KeyWords: Quantum Cascade Laser; Frequency-noise; Linewidth; StabilizationDOI: 10.1103/3t25-1gnk
