Quasi-periodic distributed feedback laser

Year: 2010

Authors: Mahler L., Tredicucci A., Beltram F., Walther C., Faist J., Beere HE., Ritchie DA., Wiersma D.

Autors Affiliation: CNR INFM, NEST, I-56126 Pisa, Italy; Scuola Normale Super Pisa, I-56126 Pisa, Italy; ETH, Inst Quantum Elect, HPT H 7, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland; Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge CB3 0HE, England; European Lab Nonlinear Spect, I-50019 Florence, Italy; CNR BEC, I-50019 Florence, Italy

Abstract: Although lasers have found numerous applications, their design is often still based on the concept of a gain medium within a mirror cavity. Exceptions to this are distributed feedback lasers(1), in which feedback develops along a periodic structure, or random lasers, which do not require any form of cavity(2). Random lasers have very rich emission spectra, but are difficult to control. Distributed feedback devices, conversely, have the same limited design possibilities of regular lasers. We show, by making use of a quasi-crystalline structure in an electrically pumped device, that several advantages of a random laser can be combined with the predictability of a distributed feedback resonator. We have constructed a terahertz quantum cascade laser based on a Fibonacci distributed feedback sequence, and show that engineering of the self-similar spectrum of the grating allows features beyond those possible with traditional periodic resonators, such as directional output independent of the emission frequency and multicolour operation.

Journal/Review: NATURE PHOTONICS

Volume: 4 (3)      Pages from: 165  to: 169

More Information: The authors thank B. Witzigmann for useful discussions. This work was supported in part by the European Commission through the Research and Training Network \’Physics of Intersubband Semiconductor Emitters\’ and the integrated project \’Teranova\’. The authors also acknowledge support from the Italian Ministry of Research through the project \’National Laboratory for Nanotechnology applied to Genomics and Post-Genomics\’.
KeyWords: Distributed feedback; Distributed feedback devices; Distributed feedback resonators; Electrically pumped devices; Emission frequency; Quasi-crystalline structure; Self-similar spectra; Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers, Emission spectroscopy; Laser beams; Laser mirrors; Quantum cascade lasers; Resonators, Distributed feedback lasers
DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2009.285

Citations: 100
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