Tunable single-mode slot waveguide quantum cascade lasers

• Main Authors: Meng, Bo, Tao, Jin, Li, Xiao Hui, Zeng, Yong Quan, Wu, Sheng, Wang, Qi Jie
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101748; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19753
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We report experimental demonstration of tunable, monolithic, single-mode quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) at ∼10 μm with a two-section etched slot structure. A single-mode tuning range of 77 cm−1 (785 nm), corresponding to ∼7.8% of the relative tuning range, was realized with a ∼20 dB side mode suppression ratio within the whole tuning range. Compared with integrated distributed feedback QCLs, our devices have the advantages of easy fabrication and a broader tuning range. Further theoretical analyses and numerical simulations show that it is possible to achieve a broad continuous tuning range by optimizing the slot structures. The proposed slot-waveguide design could provide an alternative but simple approach to the existing tuning schemes for realizing broadly continuous tunable single-mode QCLs.