Phosphides-based terahertz quantum-cascade laser

Abstract

Due to their high optical phonon energies GaInP/AlGaInP heterostructures are a promising active medium to solve the problem of creating compact semiconductor sources with an operating frequency range of 5.5-7 THz. In this work, the temperature dependences of gain and absorption at 6.8 THz have been calculated for a GaInP/AlGaInP-based quantum-cascade laser (QCL) with two quantum wells in the cascade and a metal-metal waveguide. We propose a laser structure that provides a mode gain of over 90 cm-1 with a maximum operating temperature of 104 K. The results of this study open the way to the development of a QCL for operation in a significant part of the GaAs phonon absorption band region, which is inaccessible for existing QCLs.