High-quality MBE growth of AlχGa1-χ
As-based THz quantum cascade lasers

• Authors: Tomas Roch , Aaron Andrews , Gernot Fasching , Alexander Benz , Werner Schrenk , Karl Unterrainer , Gottfried Strasser
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

High-quality GaAs-based quantum cascade laser (QCL) structures for the terahertz (THz) emission have been grown by solid source molecular-beam epitaxy. Ex-situ high-resolution x-ray diffraction shows that layer thickness and its control is the most critical growth aspect and that the lasing potential of the structure can be determined by the thickness accuracy of the layers. For our samples, the thickness tolerance for working lasing structures emitting approximately 100 μm was determined to be minimally above 1% for a 15 μm active region which was composed of 54.6 nm cascade cells. Increasing interface roughness adversely affects the lasing threshold and power.

Keywords

EN

Molecular beam epitaxy; GaAs quantum cascade structure; x-ray scattering

Discipline

• 42.55.Px: Semiconductor lasers; laser diodes
• 85.35.Be: Quantum well devices (quantum dots, quantum wires, etc.)
• 68.35.Ct: Interface structure and roughness
• 68.55.-a: Thin film structure and morphology(for methods of thin film deposition, film growth and epitaxy, see 81.15.-z)
• 81.15.Hi: Molecular, atomic, ion, and chemical beam epitaxy

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Open Physics
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 244-251

Dates

published

1 - 6 - 2007

online

27 - 2 - 2007

Contributors

author

Tomas Roch

author

Aaron Andrews

author

Gernot Fasching

• Institut für Photonik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

author

Alexander Benz

• Institut für Photonik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

author

Werner Schrenk

• Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

author

Karl Unterrainer

• Institut für Photonik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

author

Gottfried Strasser

• Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

References

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• [2] Proceedings from Royal Society Discussion Meeting: “The teraherz gap: the generation of far-infrared radiations and its applications”, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, Vol. 362, (2004), pp. 197–414, full issue Number 1815 with 16 articles.
• [3] R. Köhler, A. Tredicucci, F. Beltram, H.E. Beere, E.H. Linfield, A.G. Davies, D.A. Ritchie, R.C. Iotti and F. Rossi: “Terahertz semiconductor-heterostructure laser”, Nature, Vol. 417, (2002), pp. 156–159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/417156a[Crossref]
• [4] H.E. Beere, J.C. Fowler, J. Alton, E.H. Linfield, D.A. Ritchie, R. Köhler, A. Tredicucci, G. Scalari, L. Ajili, J. Faist and S. Barbieri: “MBE growth of terahertz quantum cascade lasers”, J. Cryst. Growth, Vol. 278, (2005), pp. 756–764. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2004.12.172[Crossref]
• [5] S. Kumar, B.S. Wiliams, S. Kohen, Q. Hu and J. Reno: “Continuous-wave operation of terahertz quantum-cascade lasers above liquid-nitrogen temperature”, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 84, (2004), pp. 2494–2496. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1695099[Crossref]
• [6] G. Fasching, A. Benz, R. Zobl, A.M. Andrews, T. Roch, W. Schrenk, G. Strasser, V. Tamosiunas and K. Unterreainer: “Microcavity THz quantum cascade laser”, Physica E, Vol. 32, (2006), pp. 316–319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2005.12.073[Crossref]

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s11534-007-0004-y