Dynamics of actively mode-locked Quantum Cascade Lasers

doi:10.1364/OE.18.013616

Dynamics of actively mode-locked Quantum Cascade Lasers

V.-M. Gkortsas, C. Wang, L. Kuznetsova, L. Diehl, A. Gordon, C. Jirauschek, M. A. Belkin, A. Belyanin, F. Capasso, and F. X. Kärtner »View Author Affiliations

Optics Express, Vol. 18, Issue 13, pp. 13616-13630 (2010)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.013616

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Abstract

The impact of upper state lifetime and spatial hole burning on pulse shape and stability in actively mode locked QCLs is investigated by numerical simulations. It is shown that an extended upper state lifetime is necessary to achieve stable isolated pulse formation per roundtrip. Spatial hole burning helps to reduce the pulse duration by supporting broadband multimode lasing, but introduces pulse instabilities which eventually lead to strongly structured pulse shapes that further degrade with increased pumping. At high pumping levels gain saturation and recovery between pulses leads to suppression of mode locking. In the absence of spatial hole burning the laser approaches single-mode lasing, while in the presence of spatial hole burning the mode locking becomes unstable and the laser dynamics does not reach a steady state anymore.

OCIS Codes
(140.4050) Lasers and laser optics : Mode-locked lasers
(140.5965) Lasers and laser optics : Semiconductor lasers, quantum cascade

ToC Category:
Lasers and Laser Optics

History
Original Manuscript: February 23, 2010
Revised Manuscript: April 27, 2010
Manuscript Accepted: June 7, 2010
Published: June 10, 2010

Citation
V.-M. Gkortsas, C. Wang, L. Kuznetsova, L. Diehl, A. Gordon, C. Jirauschek, M. A. Belkin, A. Belyanin, F. Capasso, and F. X. Kärtner, "Dynamics of actively mode-locked Quantum Cascade Lasers," Opt. Express 18, 13616-13630 (2010)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-18-13-13616

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References

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J. M. Dudley, G. Genty, and S. Coen, “Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 78(4), 1135–1184 (2006). [CrossRef]
J. J. Macklin, J. D. Kmetec, and C. L. Gordon, “High-order harmonic generation using intense femtosecond pulses,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 70(6), 766–769 (1993). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
E. A. Gibson, A. Paul, N. Wagner, R. Tobey, D. Gaudiosi, S. Backus, I. P. Christov, A. Aquila, E. M. Gullikson, D. T. Attwood, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, “Coherent soft x-ray generation in the water window with quasi-phase matching,” Science 302(5642), 95–98 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, A. L. Hutchinson, and A. Y. Cho, “Quantum Cascade Laser,” Science 264(5158), 553–556 (1994). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
H. Choi, L. Diehl, Z.-K. Wu, M. Giovannini, J. Faist, F. Capasso, and T. B. Norris, “Gain recovery dynamics and photon-driven transport in quantum cascade lasers,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 100(16), 167401 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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C. Y. Wang, L. Kuznetsova, V. M. Gkortsas, L. Diehl, F. X. Kärtner, M. A. Belkin, A. Belyanin, X. Li, D. Ham, H. Schneider, P. Grant, C. Y. Song, S. Haffouz, Z. R. Wasilewski, H. C. Liu, and F. Capasso, “Mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers,” Opt. Express 17(15), 12929–12943 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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A. Soibel, F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, M. Peabody, A. M. Sergent, R. Paiella, D. Sivco, A. Y. Cho, H. C. Liu, A. Y. Cho, and H. C. Liu, “Stability of Pulse Emission and Enhancement of Intracavity Second-Harmonic Generation in Self-Mode-Locked Quantum Cascade Lasers,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 40(3), 197–204 (2004). [CrossRef]
A. Soibel, F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, M. Peabody, A. M. Sergent, R. Paiella, H. Hwang, D. Sivco, A. Y. Cho, H. C. Liu, C. Jirauschek, and F. X. Kartner, “Active Mode locking of Broadband quantum Cascade Lasers,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 40(7), 844–851 (2004). [CrossRef]
H. C. Liu and E. Dupont, “Nonlinear quantum well infrared photodetector,” J. Nonlinear Opt. Phys. Mater. 11(4), 433–443 (2002). [CrossRef]
T. Maier, H. Schneider, H. C. Liu, M. Walther, and P. Koidl, “Two-photon QWIPs for quadratic detection of weak mid-infrared laser pulses,” Infrared Phys. Technol. 47(1-2), 182–187 (2005). [CrossRef]
C. Y. Wang, L. Diehl, A. Gordon, C. Jirauschek, F. X. Kartner, A. Belyanin, D. Bour, S. Corzine, G. Hoefler, M. Troccoli, J. Faist, and F. Capasso, “Coherent instabilities in a semiconductor laser with fast gain recovery,” Phys. Rev. A 75(3), 031802 (2007). [CrossRef]
C. R. Menyuk and M. A. Talukder, “Self-induced transparency modelocking of quantum cascade lasers,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 102(2), 023903 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. Faist, D. Hofstetter, M. Beck, T. Aellen, M. Rochat, and S. Blaser, “Bound-to-continuum and tow-phonon resonance quantum cascade lasers for high duty cycle, high temperature operation,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 38(6), 533–546 (2002). [CrossRef]

Abstreiter, G.
Aellen, T.
Aquila, A.
Attwood, D. T.
Backus, S.
Baillargeon, J. N.
Bartolini, P.
Beck, M.
Belkin, M. A.
Belyanin, A.
Bichler, M.
Blaser, S.
Bour, D.
Brodschelm, A.
Capasso, F.
Cho, A. Y.
Choi, H.
Christov, I. P.
Coen, S.
Corzine, S.
Diehl, L.
Dudley, J. M.
Dupont, E.
Faist, J.
Gaudiosi, D.
Genty, G.
Gibson, E. A.
Giovannini, M.
Gkortsas, V. M.
Gmachl, C.
Gordon, A.
Gordon, C. L.
Grant, P.
Gresch, T.
Gullikson, E. M.
Haffouz, S.
Ham, D.
Hänsch, T. W.
Hoefler, G.
Hofstetter, D.
Holzwarth, R.
Huber, R.
Hutchinson, A.
Hutchinson, A. L.
Hwang, H.
Jirauschek, C.
Kaertner, F.
Kapteyn, H. C.
Kartner, F. X.
Kärtner, F. X.
Kmetec, J. D.
Koidl, P.
Kuznetsova, L.
Leitenstorfer, A.
Li, X.
Liu, H. C.
Macklin, J. J.
Maier, T.
Menyuk, C. R.
Murnane, M. M.
Norris, T. B.
Paiella, R.
Paul, A.
Peabody, M.
Righini, R.
Rochat, M.
Schneider, H.
Sergent, A. M.
Sirtori, C.
Sivco, D.
Sivco, D. L.
Soibel, A.
Song, C. Y.
Talukder, M. A.
Tauser, F.
Tobey, R.
Torre, R.
Troccoli, M.
Trocolli, M.
Udem, T.
Wagner, N.
Walther, M.
Wang, C.
Wang, C. Y.
Wasilewski, Z. R.
Wu, Z.-K.

Appl. Phys. Lett.

R. Paiella, F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, H. Hwang, D. Sivco, A. Hutchinson, A. Y. Cho, and H. C. Liu, “Monolithic active mode locking of quantum cascade lasers,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 77(2), 169–171 (2000). [CrossRef]
H. Choi, T. B. Norris, T. Gresch, M. Giovannini, J. Faist, L. Diehl, and F. Capasso, “Femtosecond dynamics of resonant tunneling and superlattice relaxation in quantum cascade lasers,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 92(12), 122114–122117 (2008). [CrossRef]

IEEE J. Quantum Electron.

A. Soibel, F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, M. Peabody, A. M. Sergent, R. Paiella, D. Sivco, A. Y. Cho, H. C. Liu, A. Y. Cho, and H. C. Liu, “Stability of Pulse Emission and Enhancement of Intracavity Second-Harmonic Generation in Self-Mode-Locked Quantum Cascade Lasers,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 40(3), 197–204 (2004). [CrossRef]
A. Soibel, F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, M. Peabody, A. M. Sergent, R. Paiella, H. Hwang, D. Sivco, A. Y. Cho, H. C. Liu, C. Jirauschek, and F. X. Kartner, “Active Mode locking of Broadband quantum Cascade Lasers,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 40(7), 844–851 (2004). [CrossRef]
J. Faist, D. Hofstetter, M. Beck, T. Aellen, M. Rochat, and S. Blaser, “Bound-to-continuum and tow-phonon resonance quantum cascade lasers for high duty cycle, high temperature operation,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 38(6), 533–546 (2002). [CrossRef]

Infrared Phys. Technol.

T. Maier, H. Schneider, H. C. Liu, M. Walther, and P. Koidl, “Two-photon QWIPs for quadratic detection of weak mid-infrared laser pulses,” Infrared Phys. Technol. 47(1-2), 182–187 (2005). [CrossRef]

J. Nonlinear Opt. Phys. Mater.

H. C. Liu and E. Dupont, “Nonlinear quantum well infrared photodetector,” J. Nonlinear Opt. Phys. Mater. 11(4), 433–443 (2002). [CrossRef]

Nature

T. Udem, R. Holzwarth, and T. W. Hänsch, “Optical frequency metrology,” Nature 416(6877), 233–237 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
R. Huber, F. Tauser, A. Brodschelm, M. Bichler, G. Abstreiter, and A. Leitenstorfer, “How many-particle interactions develop after ultrafast excitation of an electron-hole plasma,” Nature 414(6861), 286–289 (2001). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
R. Torre, P. Bartolini, and R. Righini, “Structural relaxation in supercooled water by time-resolved spectroscopy,” Nature 428(6980), 296–299 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Express

C. Y. Wang, L. Kuznetsova, V. M. Gkortsas, L. Diehl, F. X. Kärtner, M. A. Belkin, A. Belyanin, X. Li, D. Ham, H. Schneider, P. Grant, C. Y. Song, S. Haffouz, Z. R. Wasilewski, H. C. Liu, and F. Capasso, “Mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers,” Opt. Express 17(15), 12929–12943 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev. A

A. Gordon, C. Wang, L. Diehl, F. Kaertner, A. Belyanin, D. Bour, S. Corzine, G. Hoefler, H. C. Liu, H. Schneider, T. Maier, M. Trocolli, J. Faist, and F. Capasso, “Multimode regimes in quantum cascade lasers: From coherent instabilities to spatial hole burning,” Phys. Rev. A 77(5), 053804 (2008). [CrossRef]
C. Y. Wang, L. Diehl, A. Gordon, C. Jirauschek, F. X. Kartner, A. Belyanin, D. Bour, S. Corzine, G. Hoefler, M. Troccoli, J. Faist, and F. Capasso, “Coherent instabilities in a semiconductor laser with fast gain recovery,” Phys. Rev. A 75(3), 031802 (2007). [CrossRef]

Phys. Rev. Lett.

C. R. Menyuk and M. A. Talukder, “Self-induced transparency modelocking of quantum cascade lasers,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 102(2), 023903 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
H. Choi, L. Diehl, Z.-K. Wu, M. Giovannini, J. Faist, F. Capasso, and T. B. Norris, “Gain recovery dynamics and photon-driven transport in quantum cascade lasers,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 100(16), 167401 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. J. Macklin, J. D. Kmetec, and C. L. Gordon, “High-order harmonic generation using intense femtosecond pulses,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 70(6), 766–769 (1993). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Rev. Mod. Phys.

J. M. Dudley, G. Genty, and S. Coen, “Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 78(4), 1135–1184 (2006). [CrossRef]

Science

E. A. Gibson, A. Paul, N. Wagner, R. Tobey, D. Gaudiosi, S. Backus, I. P. Christov, A. Aquila, E. M. Gullikson, D. T. Attwood, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn, “Coherent soft x-ray generation in the water window with quasi-phase matching,” Science 302(5642), 95–98 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, A. L. Hutchinson, and A. Y. Cho, “Quantum Cascade Laser,” Science 264(5158), 553–556 (1994). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
R. Paiella, F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, D. L. Sivco, J. N. Baillargeon, A. L. Hutchinson, A. Y. Cho, and H. C. Liu, “Self-mode-locking of quantum cascade lasers with giant ultrafast optical nonlinearities,” Science 290(5497), 1739–1742 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Other

C. Wang, L. Kuznetsova, L. Diehl, F. Kaertner, M. Belkin, H. Schneider, H. C. Liu, and F. Capasso, “Stable Mode-locked pulses from Mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Lasers,” Postdeadline paper, Conference of Lasers and Electro optics, San Jose, CA, USA, 2008.

2009, Wang, Opt. Express
2009, Menyuk, Phys. Rev. Lett.
2008, Gordon, Phys. Rev. A
2008, Choi, Phys. Rev. Lett.
2008, Choi, Appl. Phys. Lett.
2007, Wang, Phys. Rev. A
2006, Dudley, Rev. Mod. Phys.
2005, Maier, Infrared Phys. Technol.
2004, Soibel, IEEE J. Quantum Electron.
2004, Soibel, IEEE J. Quantum Electron.
2004, Torre, Nature
2003, Gibson, Science
2002, Udem, Nature
2002, Liu, J. Nonlinear Opt. Phys. Mater.
2002, Faist, IEEE J. Quantum Electron.
2001, Huber, Nature
2000, Paiella, Appl. Phys. Lett.
2000, Paiella, Science
1994, Faist, Science
1993, Macklin, Phys. Rev. Lett.

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