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ECE5343 2015Sp 07a
ECE5343 2015Sp 07a
ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
University of Oklahoma
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
ObjectivesandOutline
Objectives:
Understand the basic principle and operation of quantum cascade
(QC) and interband cascade (IC) lasers
Gain knowledge of QC & IC lasers and their applications
Outline
Short review of historic development of lasers
Basic semiconductor laser physics and types
Intraband quantum cascade (QC) lasers
Original idea and subsequent development
Design considerations and device performance
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Outline
Short review of historic development of lasers
Basic semiconductor laser physics and types
Intraband quantum cascade (QC) lasers
Original idea and subsequent development
Design considerations and device performance
Interband cascade lasers
Basic concept and structure
Single-mode DFB lasers and Applications
Other aspects and recent progress
Stimulated Emission
1917 - Albert Einstein developed the theoretical concept of
light traveling in waves of particles (photons) and of
Stimulated Emission which later become known as Light
Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation
(LASER)
E2
in
hv
E1
hv
out
hv
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
= 24 GHz
optical pumping
pulsed
=694.3 nm
Cr3+ ions in Al2O3
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Izuo Hayashi
and Morton
Panish (Bell
Labs) design
the first
semiconductor
laser (GaAsAlGaAs) that
operates
continuously at
room
temperature.
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Outline
Short review of historic development of lasers
Basic semiconductor laser physics and types
Intraband quantum cascade (QC) lasers
Original idea and subsequent development
Design considerations and device performance
Interband cascade lasers
Basic concept and structure
Single-mode DFB lasers and Applications
Other aspects and recent progress
Lasers
LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
Spontaneous emission: occur randomly
Stimulated emission: generated by a
photon field. The emitted photon is in
phase with the radiation field, in
addition to hv12=E2-E1
Two-level system
n2
e ( E2 E1 ) / kT e h 12 / kT 1
n1
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
A21 n2
Einstein coefficients
B21 n2 (v12)
Photon energy density
No photon density is required for a transition from an upper state to a lower state
Population Inversion
At equilibrium, the stimulated emission rate st is very small
st
A21n2
B21n2 ( 12 ) B21
( 12 )
A21n2
A21
st B21n2 ( 12 ) B21 n2
n2 > n1
Population Inversion
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
f c ( E2 ) [1 e ( E2 E Fn ) / kT ]1
f v ( E1 ) [1 e
( E1 E Fp ) / kT 1
abs P[1 f c ( E2 )] f v ( E1 ) ( 12 )
st Pf c ( E2 )[1 f v ( E1 )] ( 12 )
st abs P[ f c ( E2 ) f v ( E1 )] ( 12 ) 0
Threshold Condition
Mirror 1
Mirror 2
ikz ( i g ) z
e e
I I 0 R1 R2 e 2 ( g i ) L
R2
R1
R1 R2 e 2 ( g i ) L 1
Total loss: = i + m
gth = i + m
m
Threshold condition
1
1
ln(
) -- Mirror loss
2 L R1 R2
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
2 Ln 2 L dn
dm
2
d0
0
0 d0
20
dn
1 0
m
0
2nL n d0
Drawing from Andersons book
Adjacent mode space :
20
2nL
Itr
Ith
I (A)
1
threshold current increases
I th I tr ( m i ) with mirror loss, internal loss
a
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
P (W)
e= s (W/A)/(hv/q)
e i
I (A)
m i
Increases with I
P i h I th m
I
IV
qV
I m i
when I
Can p increases with I forever?
P
iVoe
IV
electrical efficiency
ele peaks at
ele/I=0
ele
I peak I th
1 I th I
1 R I I th Vth
Vth I th
R
ele
1
R I th Vth
If i, o, R are keep constant for any high current, i.e., without power
saturation, the electrical efficiency, hence p, would peak at I = Ipeak.
M. Razeghi, IEEE J. ST QE, 15, 941, 2009
10
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Temperature Dependence
P (W)
Ith
T 1<T 2<T 3
T2
T1
Ith=I0exp(T/T0)
T3
exponentially increases
with temperature T
T (K)
Ith1
Ith2
Ith3
I (A)
150K
208K
38m A
161m A
J430W1A
20 m x1.5m m
cw
T0 - characteristic temperature
Generally, the higher, the better
Continuous wave (cw) operation:
with dc current having more heating
pulsed operation: heat reduced
example
210K
36m A
2910
2920
2930
2940
163m A
2950
2960
Wavelength (nm)
Maximum cw Temperature
Active region temperature Ta=Th+RthVI, where Rth is the thermal resistance and
Th is the heat-sink temperature. What is the maximum Th?
Ith=I0exp(Ta/T0)=I0exp[(Th+RthVthIth)/T0]
Th=T0ln(Ith/I0) - RthVthIth
differentiate
dTh
T0 / I th RthVth 0
dIth
Th,maxcw T0[ln( T0
RthVth I 0
I th,max
T0
RthVth
) 1]
Fth=1 RthVIth/T0
J. Faist, et al., APL, 67, 3057, 1995
11
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
1000
solid: cw
open: pulsed
10
T0~51K
7
100
10
4
80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360
Temperature (K)
Maximum cw Power
Output power : P=e( I Ith )hv/q
Th RthVI (1 p )
{I I 0 exp[
]}
hv
T0
e q
e is the external QE in the case of negligible heating and is nearly constant within
a certain temperature range. By neglecting current dependence of p, one has
I 0 RthV (1 p )
Th RthVI (1 p )
dP e hv
{1
exp[
]} 0
dI
q
T0
T0
T T
h, maxcw
0
h
0
0
h
I peak R V (1 ) {ln[ I R V (1 ) ] T } R V (1 )
th
p
0 th
p
0
th
p
Pmax
e hvT0
T0
T
hv Th,maxcw Th
{ln[
] 1 h } e
qRthV (1 p )
I 0 RthV (1 p )
T0
q RthV (1 p )
12
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
10
9
120
80-86K
Thermal
rollover
8
J165X3E
100
110K
cw
80
5
60
150K
190mA
4
3
40
140K
0
0
50
100
150
350
400
450
Power (mW/facet)
Voltage (V)
20
0
500
Current-voltage-light (I-V-L) characteristics of a 150-m-wide and 1-mm-long mesastripe laser in cw mode at several temperatures and its lasing spectrum (inset) at 150 K.
Optical waveguide
13
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Stepsformakingsemiconductorlasers
VCSEL
14
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Outline
Short review of historic development of lasers
Basic semiconductor laser physics and types
Intraband quantum cascade (QC) lasers
Original idea and subsequent development
Design considerations and device performance
Interband cascade lasers
Basic concept and structure
Single-mode DFB lasers and Applications
Other aspects and recent progress
15
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
TwoApproaches
interwell photon-assisted tunneling
transition (the optical transition is
between quantum states in adjacent QWs
PopulationInversionandThreshold
Using the rate equation and considering the steady state of two level system
E2 and E1, the population inversion is
n2 n1
J 2
( 21 1 )
e 2 21
J th
gth LTs
e(n2 n1 ) th
( 21 1 ) in
(n2 n1 ) th
LTs
( n2 n1 ) th
21
L has the unit of length and is related to the emission wavelength, and Ts has the unit of
time and depends on the inverse line-width of the spontaneous emission
J th
g th
e
LTs PI R in
Jth does not explicitly depend on the individual time scales, but is inversely proportional to the
efficiencies of three critical processes, in, R, & PI, which are ratios of these time scales.
16
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Desirableconditions
To minimizing the threshold current, it is desirable to have these time scales
satisfy
2 >> 21 >> 1
and R 21, such that in PI R 1. 21 is ~ps or shorter with LO phonons.
For interwell & intrawell intersubband transitions, radiative efficiency R is about
the same, but in & PI can differ significantly in the two approaches.
interwell transitions, 21 is longer, benefits the population inversion, higher PI,
may lower injection efficiency in
intrawell transitions, 21 is shorter, raises the injection efficiency in but lower
the population inversionPI,
it is preferable to make the lower energy state lifetime 1 much smaller than
the relaxation time 21 and utilize the intrawell transition to achieve a low
threshold current for intersubband lasing. making 1 small is challenging!
Variousearlystructuresviaresonanttunneling
P.-F. Yuh and K. L. Wang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 1404 (1987);
H. C. Liu, J. Appl. Phys. 63, 2856 (1988)
S. I. Borenstain & J. Katz, Appl. Phys. Lett. 55, 654 (1989)
A. Kastalsky, V. J. Goldman, J. H. Abeles, APL. 59, 2636 (1991)
Q. Hu and S. Feng, Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 2923 (1991).
17
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Firstintersubbandluminescence
M. Helm et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 74 (1989)
Phononmediatedpopulationinversion
A. A. Andronov, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 7, B629 (1992)
18
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
FirstDemonstrationofQuantumCascadeLasers
J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, A.L. Hutchinson, A. Y. Cho, Science
264, 553 (1994)
SomeFeatures
Wavelength tailoring determined by layer thickness instead of band-gap
Relatively insensitive to temperature: high T0 (>100K) due to parallel
subbands and optical phonon limited lifetime
Ultrafast: high speed modulation
High quantum efficiency (>100%) due to cascade process
Narrow linewidth (<100 kHz)
Based on relatively mature III-V materials
High threshold current density due to fast LO phonon scattering
Wavelength tailoring practically limited on the short side to a fraction of
the relevant band-edge offset in the adopted material system
19
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
NoteonCascadeConfigurations
Quantum efficiency exceeding 100% is not new
An early work on cascade lasers (on
GaAs) by Van der Ziel & Tsang [APL 41,
499 (1982)]
Explicitly pointed out that the quantum
efficiency (QE) may be greater than unity
cascaded active regions are in different
waveguides
n+
p+
active layer
n+
p+
active layer
active layer
hv
hv
hv
hv
Cascading
hv
hv
hv
Faists VG
20
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
21
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Faists VG
22
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2/26/2015
Faists VG
Faists VG
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
RateEquationsandParameters
24
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
RateEquations
25
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Lifetime reduced with the transition energy close to the LO phonon energy
27
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
28
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
30
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
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Faists VG
Faists VG
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
Faists VG
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
Schematic potential prole and design of the active region of a quantum cascade laser
based on three quantum wells. a)Two quantum well before the application of the electric
eld. b)The electric eld bring the two ground states in resonance and yields a splitting
equal to the optical phonon energy. A third thinner well is added up stream. If the state of
this well is resonant with the excited state of the coupled well, the resulting transition is
diagonal (c), if the well is thinner and the resonance is above, the transition is vertical (d).
34
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
Faists VG
35
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
Faists VG
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
Faists VG
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Faists VG
Faists VG
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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
A. Lyakhet al., Pranalytica, Harvard, Adtech, Applied Physics Letters 92, 111110 (2008)
Pranalyticas PoyntIR laser system, consisting of a packaged uncooled QCL & driver electronics and it
emits up to 1 W of average power at 4.6 m with an overall system efficiency of ~10%
Handheld IR illuminator
that runs on batteries for
over 2 hours at 1 W output
power level at 4.6 m
39