Mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • In this study, we report the unequivocal demonstration of midinfrared mode-locked pulses from quantum cascade lasers. The train of short pulses was generated by actively modulating the current and hence the gain of an edge-emitting quantum cascade laser (QCL). Pulses with duration of about 3 ps at full-width-at-half-maxima and energy of 0.5 pJ were characterized using a second-order interferometric autocorrelation technique based on a nonlinear quantum well infrared photodetector. The mode-locking dynamics in the QCLs was modeled based on the Maxwell-Bloch equations in an open two-level system. Our model reproduces the overall shape of the measured autocorrelation traces and predicts that the short pulses are accompanied by substantial wings as a result of strong spatial hole burning. The range of parameters where short mode-locked pulses can be formed is found.

published proceedings

  • Opt Express

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Wang, C. Y., Kuznetsova, L., Gkortsas, V. M., Diehl, L., Krtner, F. X., Belkin, M. A., ... Capasso, F.

citation count

  • 151

complete list of authors

  • Wang, Christine Y||Kuznetsova, Lyuba||Gkortsas, VM||Diehl, L||Kärtner, FX||Belkin, MA||Belyanin, A||Li, X||Ham, D||Schneider, H||Grant, P||Song, CY||Haffouz, S||Wasilewski, ZR||Liu, HC||Capasso, Federico

publication date

  • July 2009