High internal differential efficiency mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

Dan Botez; Jeremy D. Kirch; Chun-Chieh Chang; Colin Boyle; Honghyuk Kim; Kevin M. Oresick; Chris Sigler; Luke J. Mawst; Minhyeok Jo; Jae Cheol Shin; Gun-Kim Doo; Don F. Lindberg III; Thomas L. Earles

doi:10.1117/12.2249537

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20 February 2017 High internal differential efficiency mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

Dan Botez, Jeremy D. Kirch, Chun-Chieh Chang, Colin Boyle, Honghyuk Kim, Kevin M. Oresick, Chris Sigler, Luke J. Mawst, Minhyeok Jo, Jae Cheol Shin, Gun-Kim Doo, Don F. Lindberg III, Thomas L. Earles

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Proceedings Volume 10123, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVI; 101230Q (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2249537
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2017, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Implementation of the step-taper active-region (STA) design to 8-9 μm-emitting quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has resulted in both high T₀ and T₁ values: 220 K and 665 K, and short lower-level lifetimes: 0.12 ps. In turn, the internal differential efficiency η_id, which is the product of the injection efficiency and the differential laser-transition efficiency, reaches values as high as 86 % for both 8.4 μm- and 8.8 μm-emitting QCLs. Such η_id values are 30-50% higher than those obtained from conventional QCLs emitting in the 7-11 μm wavelength range. Achieving both carrier-leakage suppression and miniband-like carrier extraction in mid-infrared (IR) QCLs leads to η_id values close to the fundamental limit of ~ 90 %. In turn, the currently employed fundamental wallplug-efficiency limits over the mid-IR wavelength range have to be increased by ~ 34 % (e.g., the wallplug-efficiency limit at λ= 4.6 μm increases from 29 % to 39 %). Preliminary results from STA-type 4.8-5.0 μm-emitting QCLs include 1.5 W CW operation, and 77 % internal differential efficiency; that is, 30-50% higher than the η_id values obtained from conventional 4.0-6.5μm-emitting QCLs.

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Dan Botez, Jeremy D. Kirch, Chun-Chieh Chang, Colin Boyle, Honghyuk Kim, Kevin M. Oresick, Chris Sigler, Luke J. Mawst, Minhyeok Jo, Jae Cheol Shin, Gun-Kim Doo, Don F. Lindberg III, and Thomas L. Earles "High internal differential efficiency mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers", Proc. SPIE 10123, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVI, 101230Q (20 February 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2249537

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