Interband cascade laser
Mid-infrared laser diodes using interband transitions for low-power operation.
Last updated
Its basic concept was proposed by Rui Q. Yang in 1994, incorporating a type-II heterostructure to enable cascade lasers using interband transitions for photon generation.[1] A semiconductor mid-infrared light source that uses radiative transitions between conduction and valence bands in type-II quantum wells is the interband cascade laser.[2]
Quick Facts
- Field
- Semiconductor laser technology
- Known for
- Mid-infrared laser diodes using interband transitions in cascade structures
- Inventor
- Rui Q. Yang (1994)
Facts from the source article.
How it changed
Unlike other laser diodes, the ICL can be electrically pumped without requiring a p-n junction.[3] Rectifying barriers formed by the injectors ensure unidirectional current flow, enabling this operation.[3] The year 2008 saw the first demonstration of ICLs lasing in continuous wave mode at room temperature.[4] Compared to other mid-IR semiconductor laser technologies, ICLs operating in continuous wave at ambient temperature require substantially lower input powers.[4]
What the maker and period sources say
That device had a differential quantum efficiency of 547% at 80 K, dropping to 239% at 200 K.[5] The 2009 report also noted that mid-IR lasers are needed for applications such as chemical sensing, IR countermeasures, free space communications, and IR ladar.[2] A narrow ridge-waveguide mid-IR interband cascade laser, processed with a thick gold heat spreading layer and described in a 2004 report by Richard L. Tober, Carlos Monroy, Kimberly Olver, and John D. Bruno, operated CW from 80 K to 214.4 K.[5] The report stated that while theoretical predictions indicated interband cascade lasers could deliver watts of CW power at room temperature, this had not yet been realized.[5]
Patrick Folkes authored a 2009 Army Research Laboratory report that detailed the initial measurements of low-frequency interband cascade laser photon noise and relative intensity noise as functions of CW laser current at 30 K and 100 K.[2] That report noted that, away from threshold, the interband cascade laser predominantly shows a frequency-independent photon noise spectral density, consistent with theoretical predictions.[2]
References
- Wikipedia, "Interband cascade laser" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yang, "Infrared Laser based on Intersubband Transitions in Quantum Wells", Superlattices and Microstructures, 1995, p. 77–83 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Internet Archive scan: "DTIC ADA507657: Interband Cascade Laser Photon Noise" (2009-09-01). facts only; machine OCR of the scan. archive.org
- Wikipedia, "Interband cascade laser" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vurgaftman, "Rebalancing of internally generated carriers for mid-infrared cascade lasers with very low power consumption", Nature Communications, 2011, p. 585; Vurgaftman, "Rebalancing of internally generated carriers for mid-infrared cascade lasers with very low power consumption", Nature Communications, 2011, p. 585 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Interband cascade laser" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kim, "Interband cascade laser emitting at λ = 3.75 μm in continuous wave above room temperature", Applied Physics Letters, 2008, p. 191110; Bewley, "Continuous-wave interband cascade lasers operating above room temperature at λ = 4.7-5.6 μm", Optics Express, 2012, p. 3235–3240; Nauschuetz, "Pushing the Room Temperature Continuous-Wave Operation Limit of GaSb-Based Interband Cascade Lasers beyond 6 μm", Laser Photonics Rev., 2023; Li, "MBE-grown long-wavelength interband cascade lasers on InAs substrates", J. Cryst. Growth, 2015, en.wikipedia.org
- Internet Archive scan: "DTIC ADA428728: Processing Interband Cascade Laser for High Temperature CW Operation" (2004-11-01). facts only; machine OCR of the scan. archive.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Interband cascade laser (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Interband cascade laser (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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