ECE5343 2015Sp 07a

RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.
ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
University of Oklahoma
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
ECE 5343 Quantum Structures and Devices

RuiQ.Yang
Spring,2015
Chapter7IntersubbandQuantumCascadeLasersand
InterbandCascadeLasers
References: F. Capasso, et al. JQE, 38, 511 (2002), J. Faist, et al, Chap. 1, Semicond.
and Semimetals, 66, Academic (2000). Yang, Chap. 2, Long Wavelength Infrared
Emitters based on Quantum Wells and Superlattices, Ed. M. Helm, 2000
ObjectivesandOutline
Objectives:
Understand the basic principle and operation of quantum cascade
(QC) and interband cascade (IC) lasers
Gain knowledge of QC & IC lasers and their applications
Outline
Short review of historic development of lasers
Basic semiconductor laser physics and types
Intraband quantum cascade (QC) lasers
Original idea and subsequent development
Design considerations and device performance
Interband cascade lasers

Basic concept and structure
Single-mode DFB lasers and Applications
Other aspects and recent progress
RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.ofOklahoma
2/26/2015
Outline
Stimulated Emission
1917 - Albert Einstein developed the theoretical concept of
light traveling in waves of particles (photons) and of
Stimulated Emission which later become known as Light
Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation
(LASER)
E2
in
hv
E1
hv
out
hv
A. Einstein, Phys. Z. 18, 121 (1917)
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First Maser (1954)

microwave amplification by stimulated
emission of radiation (MASER)
Townes published 25 papers on spectroscopy before this work
= 24 GHz
Charles Townes and his colleagues were the first to build a

maser in 1954, which operated in the microwave frequency
range. It was the precursor of the laser. In 1958 Townes and
Arthur Schawlow of Bell Labs proposed a system that would
work at infrared and optical wavelengths. Townes shared the
1964 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on masers and lasers
First Laser (1960)
optical pumping
pulsed
Theodore (Ted) H. Maiman

then at Hughes Aircraft facilities
=694.3 nm
Cr3+ ions in Al2O3
Rejected by PRL. accepted by Nature
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First cw Laser (1960)

The Laser - A Possibility in the 1930s
In the scientific world, they always say
that when the time comes for an
invention or a discovery to be made, if
you don't do it, someone else will. To a
large extent, that's true. But it's not
always the case. People can miss a good
idea. When it comes to the laser-my kind
of laser, the Gas Laser-I'm convinced it
could have been invented in the 1930s,
not thirty years later in 1960 when I
managed to do it.
Ali Javan, William Bennett, and Donald Herriott (Bell Labs)

adjust the helium-neon laser, the first laser to generate a
continuous beam of light at 1.15 microns and the first of many
electrical discharge pumped gas lasers.
Semiconductor Lasers (1962)
Todays diode lasers

Robert N. Hall
1962 First GaAsP laser diode (Holonyak & Bevaqua)
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First CW RT Semiconductor Lasers (1970)
Izuo Hayashi
and Morton
Panish (Bell
Labs) design
the first
semiconductor
laser (GaAsAlGaAs) that
operates
continuously at
room
temperature.
Events in Laser Development

1917 - Concept of Stimulated Emission - Albert Einstein
1954 First Maser - Charles Townes et al. (Columbia University)
1958 - Laser Theory - Charles Townes & Arthur Shawlow (G. U. & Bell Labs)
1960 - First Laser (Ruby laser) - Theodore Maiman (Hughes Aircraft)
1960 - He-Ne Laser - Ali Javan (Bell Labs)
1962 - Semiconductor Laser (pulsed, 77 K)- Robert Hall (GE Research Lab)
1964 - CO2 Laser - Kumar Patel (Bell Labs)
1964 - PbTe diode laser (pulsed, 6.5 m at 12 K) J. F. Butler, et al. (Lincoln Lab)
1964 - Nd:YAG Laser - Guseic, Markos and Van Uiteit (Bell Labs)
1964 - Argon Laser - William Bridges (Hughes Aircraft)
1966 - Dye Laser - Sorokin and Lankard (IBM Watson Research Center)
1970 - Excimer Laser - Nikolai Basov's Group (Lebedev Labs, Moscow)
1972 - RT cw semiconductor laser - Izuo Hayashi & Morton Panish (Bell Labs)
1976 - GaInAsP/InP DH laser diode at 1.2 m (cw, 300 K) (Lincoln Lab)
1977 - Free Electron Laser - John M J Madey's Group (Stanford University)
1980 - X-ray lasing action - Geoffrey Pert's Group (Hull University, UK)
1994 - Quantum Cascade Laser (pulsed, 4.3 m 125K) J. Faist, et al. (Bell Labs)
1994 - Concept of Interband Cascade (IC) Lasers - Rui Q. Yang (Univ. of Toronto)
1997 - First demonstration of IC lasers (U. of Houston & Sandia National Labs)
2002 - Quantum Cascade Laser (cw, RT) - Beck, Faist, et al. (University of Neuchtel)
2008 - IC lasers (cw, 319K) (NRL), plamson-waveguide IC lasers near 6 m (OU)
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Outline
Lasers
LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
Spontaneous emission: occur randomly
Stimulated emission: generated by a
photon field. The emitted photon is in
phase with the radiation field, in
addition to hv12=E2-E1
Two-level system
Monochromatic precisely equal energy

Coherent in phase, directional
At thermal equilibrium (Boltzmann statistics), the relative population
n2
e ( E2 E1 ) / kT e h 12 / kT 1
n1
for the two levels containing an

equal number of available states
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Einstein Coefficients and Their Relationship
For steady state

Absorption = Spontaneous emission + Stimulated emission
B12 n1 (v12) =
A21 n2
Einstein coefficients
B21 n2 (v12)
Photon energy density
No photon density is required for a transition from an upper state to a lower state
Population Inversion
At equilibrium, the stimulated emission rate st is very small
st
A21n2
B21n2 ( 12 ) B21
( 12 )
A21n2
A21
To enhance st is to have a large photon filed density (v12), which can be

realized with an optical resonant cavity
Ratio between stimulated emission rate and absorption rate
st B21n2 ( 12 ) B21 n2
abs B12 n1 ( 12 ) B12 n1

If st is dominant over absorption of photons, we must have more electrons
in the upper level than in the lower level, which is unnatural. The condition
n2 > n1
Population Inversion
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Population Inversion in a Semiconductor

For a semiconductor at non-equilibrium with quasi Fermi-levels EFn and EFp
f c ( E2 ) [1 e ( E2 E Fn ) / kT ]1
f v ( E1 ) [1 e
( E1 E Fp ) / kT 1
abs P[1 f c ( E2 )] f v ( E1 ) ( 12 )
st Pf c ( E2 )[1 f v ( E1 )] ( 12 )
st abs P[ f c ( E2 ) f v ( E1 )] ( 12 ) 0
fc(E2 ) - fv(E1 ) > 0

(EFn EFpp ) >(E2 E1) =hv12>Eg
Bernard-Duraffourg inversion condition
Threshold Condition
Mirror 1
After a round trip, light intensity is
Mirror 2
ikz ( i g ) z
e e
I I 0 R1 R2 e 2 ( g i ) L
R2
R1
R1, R2 - the reflection coefficient
Phase change is e2ikL

k=2/, =0/n, n is refractive index,
g is gain, i is the internal loss
If lasing, the light intensity does not change at threshold
R1 R2 e 2 ( g i ) L 1
Total loss: = i + m
gth = i + m
m
Threshold condition
1
1
ln(
) -- Mirror loss
2 L R1 R2
In phase condition cos(2kL)=1, sin(2kL)=0

2kL=m(2), m=1, 2, 3,
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Modes in a laser cavity

k =2n/0, L=m0/(2n)
m =2nL/0, m=1, 2, 3,
resonant modes in a laser cavity
2 Ln 2 L dn
dm
2
d0
0
0 d0
20
dn
1 0
m
0
2nL n d0
Drawing from Andersons book
Adjacent mode space :
20
2nL
Example: =3 m, L=1 mm, n=3.4, # of modes m=2x3.4x103/3~2266

~32/(2x3.4x103)~0.0013 m=1.3 nm . some modes are in gain curves
Basic Diode Laser Physics

g (cm-1)
g (cm-1) = a(I Itr )
a: differential gain (cm-1/A)

Itr: transparency current where
population inversion occur
Itr
Ith
I (A)
At threshold: gth (cm-1) = = i + m

a (Ith Itr ) = i + m
1
threshold current increases
I th I tr ( m i ) with mirror loss, internal loss
a
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Diode laser performance characteristics

Slope efficiency s=dP/dI (W/A)
P (W)
External quantum efficiency e:

# of received photons per electron
e= s (W/A)/(hv/q)
e i
I (A)
m i
i: internal Q.E. which is # of emitted
photons inside of the cavity per electron
Output power : P=s (I Ith )=e(I Ith )hv/q
Increases with I
power conversion efficiency (wall-plug efficiency):
P i h I th m
I
IV
qV
I m i
when I
Can p increases with I forever?
Power (wall-plug) efficiency of diode lasers

Operating voltage V = Vth + (I Ith)R, Vth: threshold voltage, R: differential resistance
P
iVoe
IV
voltage efficiency V =Nhv/(eVth), N: no.

of stages
the optical efficiency o=m/(m + w)
electrical efficiency
ele peaks at
ele/I=0
ele
I peak I th
1 I th I
1 R I I th Vth
Vth I th
R
It does not monolithically

increases with I
max
ele
1
R I th Vth
If i, o, R are keep constant for any high current, i.e., without power
saturation, the electrical efficiency, hence p, would peak at I = Ipeak.
M. Razeghi, IEEE J. ST QE, 15, 941, 2009
10
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Temperature Dependence
P (W)
Ith
T 1<T 2<T 3
T2
T1
Ith=I0exp(T/T0)
T3
exponentially increases
with temperature T
T (K)
Ith1
Ith2
Ith3
I (A)
150K
208K
38m A
Semiconductor laser performance

is sensitive to temperature
161m A
J430W1A
20 m x1.5m m
cw
T0 - characteristic temperature
Generally, the higher, the better
Continuous wave (cw) operation:
with dc current having more heating
pulsed operation: heat reduced
example
210K
36m A
2910
2920
2930
2940
163m A
2950
2960
3030 3040 3050 3060 3070 3080 3090
Wavelength (nm)
Maximum cw Temperature
Active region temperature Ta=Th+RthVI, where Rth is the thermal resistance and
Th is the heat-sink temperature. What is the maximum Th?
Ith=I0exp(Ta/T0)=I0exp[(Th+RthVthIth)/T0]
Th=T0ln(Ith/I0) - RthVthIth
differentiate
dTh
T0 / I th RthVth 0
dIth
Th,maxcw T0[ln( T0
RthVth I 0
I th,max
T0
RthVth
) 1]
The slope efficiency in cw operation will be reduced by a factor (assuming a

constant i) compared to the pulsed case
Fth=1 RthVIth/T0
J. Faist, et al., APL, 67, 3057, 1995
11
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Maximum cw Temperature an example
Rsth~5.4 Kcm /kW
1000
Threshold voltage (V)
solid: cw
open: pulsed
Threshold current density (A/cm )
10
T0~51K
7
100
Near Tmaxcw, Jth

changes more
rapidly
10
4
80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360
Temperature (K)
Threshold currents and voltages for an IC laser at various temperatures
Maximum cw Power
Output power : P=e( I Ith )hv/q
Th RthVI (1 p )
{I I 0 exp[
]}
hv
T0
e q
e is the external QE in the case of negligible heating and is nearly constant within
a certain temperature range. By neglecting current dependence of p, one has
I 0 RthV (1 p )
Th RthVI (1 p )
dP e hv
{1
exp[
]} 0
dI
q
T0
T0
T T
h, maxcw
0
h
0
0
h
I peak R V (1 ) {ln[ I R V (1 ) ] T } R V (1 )
th
p
0 th
p
0
th
p
Neglect differences of V, p, at Th,maxcw
Pmax
e hvT0
T0
T
hv Th,maxcw Th
{ln[
] 1 h } e
qRthV (1 p )
I 0 RthV (1 p )
T0
q RthV (1 p )
12
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Maximum cw Power an example

140
10
9
120
80-86K
Thermal
rollover
8
J165X3E
100
150mx1mm mesa stripe
110K
cw
80
5
60
150K
190mA
4
3
40
140K
3800 3820 3840

Wavelength (nm)
0
0
50
100
150
200 250 300

Current (mA)
350
400
450
Power (mW/facet)
Voltage (V)
20
0
500
Current-voltage-light (I-V-L) characteristics of a 150-m-wide and 1-mm-long mesastripe laser in cw mode at several temperatures and its lasing spectrum (inset) at 150 K.
Various types of semiconductor lasers

Homojunction laser (p-n junction)- developed first early 1960s
Heterojunction lasers
Single heterojunction
Double-heterojunction
Carrier confinement
Separate confinement heterostructure QW lasers
Optical waveguide
Visible lasers (400-700nm)

Storage (DVD)
Laser pointers
Infrared lasers (>700nm)
Optical link for fiber communication
Pumping sources
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Stepsformakingsemiconductorlasers
Vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs)
The output beam of an

VCSEL is more circular
The output beam of an edge-emitting
laser is elliptical and divergent
(Distributed Bragg Reflector stack of

quarter wavelength alternating layers)
VCSEL
14
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Outline
Light Emission based on Intersubband Transitions

R. F. Kazarinov, R.A. Suris, Sov. Phys. Semicond. 5, 707 (1971)
1971: R. Kazarinov and R. Suris proposed using intersubband

transitions in a biased superlattice for light amplification
15
2/26/2015
TwoApproaches
interwell photon-assisted tunneling
transition (the optical transition is
between quantum states in adjacent QWs
intrawell transition (optical

transition is between states in
the same QW) with resonant
tunneling in superlattices
F. Capasso et al, JQE (1986)
PopulationInversionandThreshold
Using the rate equation and considering the steady state of two level system
E2 and E1, the population inversion is
n2 n1
J 2
( 21 1 )
e 2 21
requiring 21>1 for inversion
21 is the relaxation time from level E2 to the lower level E1
Threshold current density (by re-arranging the above Eq.)
J th
gth LTs
e(n2 n1 ) th
( 21 1 ) in
(n2 n1 ) th
LTs
in=2/(2+21) is electron injection efficiency
( n2 n1 ) th
21
R=21/R is the radiative efficiency
L has the unit of length and is related to the emission wavelength, and Ts has the unit of
time and depends on the inverse line-width of the spontaneous emission
J th
g th
e
LTs PI R in
PI =(21 - 1)/21 is population inversion efficiency
Jth does not explicitly depend on the individual time scales, but is inversely proportional to the
efficiencies of three critical processes, in, R, & PI, which are ratios of these time scales.
16
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Desirableconditions
To minimizing the threshold current, it is desirable to have these time scales
satisfy
2 >> 21 >> 1
and R 21, such that in PI R 1. 21 is ~ps or shorter with LO phonons.
For interwell & intrawell intersubband transitions, radiative efficiency R is about
the same, but in & PI can differ significantly in the two approaches.
interwell transitions, 21 is longer, benefits the population inversion, higher PI,
may lower injection efficiency in
intrawell transitions, 21 is shorter, raises the injection efficiency in but lower
the population inversionPI,
it is preferable to make the lower energy state lifetime 1 much smaller than
the relaxation time 21 and utilize the intrawell transition to achieve a low
threshold current for intersubband lasing. making 1 small is challenging!
Variousearlystructuresviaresonanttunneling
P.-F. Yuh and K. L. Wang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 1404 (1987);
H. C. Liu, J. Appl. Phys. 63, 2856 (1988)
S. I. Borenstain & J. Katz, Appl. Phys. Lett. 55, 654 (1989)
A. Kastalsky, V. J. Goldman, J. H. Abeles, APL. 59, 2636 (1991)
Q. Hu and S. Feng, Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 2923 (1991).
17
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Firstintersubbandluminescence
M. Helm et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 74 (1989)
Resonant tunneling in a periodic superlattice

Emission observed in the Far-Infrared
Phononmediatedpopulationinversion
A. A. Andronov, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 7, B629 (1992)
Scattering is fast with LO phonons

Acoustic phonon scattering is slower
Yang, Superlatt. & Mircrostruc. 17, 77 (1995);

Chapter 2 in Helms book (2000)
18
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FirstDemonstrationofQuantumCascadeLasers
J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, A.L. Hutchinson, A. Y. Cho, Science
264, 553 (1994)
1994: Bell Labs

Tmax= 125K (pulsed), Pmax = 10mW, = 4.26 m, Jth> 4 kA/cm2.
25 cascade stages, ~500 layers on InP sub.
SomeFeatures
Wavelength tailoring determined by layer thickness instead of band-gap
Relatively insensitive to temperature: high T0 (>100K) due to parallel
subbands and optical phonon limited lifetime
Ultrafast: high speed modulation
High quantum efficiency (>100%) due to cascade process
Narrow linewidth (<100 kHz)
Based on relatively mature III-V materials
High threshold current density due to fast LO phonon scattering
Wavelength tailoring practically limited on the short side to a fraction of
the relevant band-edge offset in the adopted material system
19
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NoteonCascadeConfigurations
Quantum efficiency exceeding 100% is not new
An early work on cascade lasers (on
GaAs) by Van der Ziel & Tsang [APL 41,
499 (1982)]
Explicitly pointed out that the quantum
efficiency (QE) may be greater than unity
cascaded active regions are in different
waveguides
Not only QE>1, but also (dg/dI) Nc
n+
p+
active layer
n+
p+
active layer
For both intersubband QC and interband

cascade lasers, every cascade stage
(active region) is in the same waveguide
active layer
hv
hv
hv
hv
Cascading
hv
hv
hv
Faists VG
20
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Faists VG
M. Beck, et al., Science 295, 301 (2002)

Faists VG
21
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Faists VG
Computation of Energy States
22
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Faists VG
Faists VG
23
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One can also use two-band and one-band models
RateEquationsandParameters
24
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Faists VG
RateEquations
Gain cross section
All the population is lumped together in k=0 state!
25
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26
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Lifetime reduced with the transition energy close to the LO phonon energy
Population inversion exist only if 2<32.
27
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Faists VG
28
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Justification for photon-assisted tunneling transition
29
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Faists VG
30
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Faists VG
Active region optimization
31
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Faists VG
Faists VG
32
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Faists VG
Faists VG
33
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Faists VG
Schematic potential prole and design of the active region of a quantum cascade laser
based on three quantum wells. a)Two quantum well before the application of the electric
eld. b)The electric eld bring the two ground states in resonance and yields a splitting
equal to the optical phonon energy. A third thinner well is added up stream. If the state of
this well is resonant with the excited state of the coupled well, the resulting transition is
diagonal (c), if the well is thinner and the resonance is above, the transition is vertical (d).
34
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Faists VG
Faists VG
35
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Faists VG
Faists VG
36
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Faists VG
Faists VG
37
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Faists VG
Faists VG
38
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Fully Packaged CW/RT 4.6 m High Power QCLs
A. Lyakhet al., Pranalytica, Harvard, Adtech, Applied Physics Letters 92, 111110 (2008)
Recent QCL Systems
Pranalyticas PoyntIR laser system, consisting of a packaged uncooled QCL & driver electronics and it
emits up to 1 W of average power at 4.6 m with an overall system efficiency of ~10%
Handheld IR illuminator
that runs on batteries for
over 2 hours at 1 W output
power level at 4.6 m
39

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RuiQ.Yang,ECE,Univ.

ECE 5343 Quantum Structures and Devices

Interband cascade lasers

A. Einstein, Phys. Z. 18, 121 (1917)

First Maser (1954)

Townes published 25 papers on spectroscopy before this work

Charles Townes and his colleagues were the first to build a

First Laser (1960)

Theodore (Ted) H. Maiman

Rejected by PRL. accepted by Nature

First cw Laser (1960)

Ali Javan, William Bennett, and Donald Herriott (Bell Labs)

Semiconductor Lasers (1962)

Todays diode lasers

1962 First GaAsP laser diode (Holonyak & Bevaqua)

First CW RT Semiconductor Lasers (1970)

Events in Laser Development

Monochromatic precisely equal energy

At thermal equilibrium (Boltzmann statistics), the relative population

for the two levels containing an

Einstein Coefficients and Their Relationship

For steady state

To enhance st is to have a large photon filed density (v12), which can be

abs B12 n1 ( 12 ) B12 n1

Population Inversion in a Semiconductor

fc(E2 ) - fv(E1 ) > 0

After a round trip, light intensity is

R1, R2 - the reflection coefficient

Phase change is e2ikL

If lasing, the light intensity does not change at threshold

In phase condition cos(2kL)=1, sin(2kL)=0

Modes in a laser cavity

resonant modes in a laser cavity

Example: =3 m, L=1 mm, n=3.4, # of modes m=2x3.4x103/3~2266

Basic Diode Laser Physics

a: differential gain (cm-1/A)

At threshold: gth (cm-1) = = i + m

Diode laser performance characteristics

External quantum efficiency e:

i: internal Q.E. which is # of emitted

photons inside of the cavity per electron

Output power : P=s (I Ith )=e(I Ith )hv/q

power conversion efficiency (wall-plug efficiency):

Power (wall-plug) efficiency of diode lasers

voltage efficiency V =Nhv/(eVth), N: no.

It does not monolithically

Semiconductor laser performance

3030 3040 3050 3060 3070 3080 3090

The slope efficiency in cw operation will be reduced by a factor (assuming a

Maximum cw Temperature an example

Rsth~5.4 Kcm /kW

Threshold voltage (V)

Threshold current density (A/cm )

Near Tmaxcw, Jth

Threshold currents and voltages for an IC laser at various temperatures

Neglect differences of V, p, at Th,maxcw

Maximum cw Power an example

150mx1mm mesa stripe

3800 3820 3840

200 250 300

Various types of semiconductor lasers

Separate confinement heterostructure QW lasers

Visible lasers (400-700nm)