Photovoltaic Probe of Cavity Polaritons in a Quantum Cascade Structure

The strong coupling between an intersubband excitation in a quantum cascade structure and a photonic mode of a planar microcavity has been detected by angle-resolved photovoltaic measurements. A typical anticrossing behavior, with a vacuum-field Rabi splitting of 16 meV at 78K, has been measured, for an intersubband transition at 163 meV. These results show that the strong coupling regime between photons and intersubband excitations can be engineered in a quantum cascade opto-electronic device. They also demonstrate the possibility to perform angle-resolved mid-infrared photodetection and to develop active devices based on intersubband cavity polaritons.Comment: submitted to Applied Physics Letter

Direct surface cyclotron resonance terahertz emission from a quantum cascade structure

A strong magnetic field applied along the growth direction of a semiconductor quantum well gives rise to a spectrum of discrete energy states, the Landau levels. By combining quantum engineering of a quantum cascade structure with a static magnetic field, we can selectively inject electrons into the excited Landau level of a quantum well and realize a tunable surface emitting device based on cyclotron emission. By applying the appropriate magnetic field between 0 and 12 T, we demonstrate emission from a single device over a wide range of frequencies (1-2 THz and 3-5 THz)

Measurement of the intrinsic linewidth of terahertz quantum cascade lasers using a near- infrared frequency comb

We report the measurement of the frequency noise power spectral density of a quantum cascade laser emitting at 2.5THz. The technique is based on heterodyning the laser emission frequency with a harmonic of the repetition rate of a near-infrared laser comb. This generates a beatnote in the radio frequency range that is demodulated using a tracking oscillator allowing measurement of the frequency noise. We find that the latter is strongly affected by the level of optical feedback, and obtain an intrinsic linewidth of ~230Hz, for an output power of 2mW

Coherent sampling of active mode-locked terahertz quantum cascade lasers and frequency synthesis

International audienceTerahertz quantum cascade lasers are compact, electrically pumped semiconductor laser sources that are capable of delivering tens of milliwatts of power in continuous wave. Here, we demonstrate that these devices can be operated in a regime of active mode-locking by modulating their bias current with a radiofrequency synthesizer. Detection of the emitted pulse train is made possible by phase-locking the quantum cascade laser repetition rate and carrier frequency to a harmonic of the repetition rate of a mode-locked femtosecond fibre laser. This technique allows coherent sampling of the terahertz electric field, showing that the terahertz pulses are transform-limited. In addition, our technique allows control of the carrier-envelope phase shift of the quantum cascade laser

Tunable surface emitting THz quantum cascade structure based on cyclotron emission

International audienc

Ultrafast Gain Switching of THz quantum cascade lasers

International audienc

Coherent sampling of active mode-locked terahertz quantum cascade lasers and frequency synthesis

International audienceTerahertz quantum cascade lasers are compact, electrically pumped semiconductor laser sources that are capable of delivering tens of milliwatts of power in continuous wave. Here, we demonstrate that these devices can be operated in a regime of active mode-locking by modulating their bias current with a radiofrequency synthesizer. Detection of the emitted pulse train is made possible by phase-locking the quantum cascade laser repetition rate and carrier frequency to a harmonic of the repetition rate of a mode-locked femtosecond fibre laser. This technique allows coherent sampling of the terahertz electric field, showing that the terahertz pulses are transform-limited. In addition, our technique allows control of the carrier-envelope phase shift of the quantum cascade laser