External ring-cavity quantum cascade lasers

Year: 2013

Authors: Malara P., Blanchard R., Mansuripur T.S., Wojcik A. K., Belyanin A., Fujita K., Edamura T., Furuta S., Yamanishi M., De Natale P., Capasso F.

Autors Affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche–Istituto Nazionale di Ottica and European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS), 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy; Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 7784, USA; Central Research Laboratory, Hamamatsu Photonics K. K., Hamamatsu 434-8601, Japan

Abstract: An external ring-cavity quantum cascade laser (QCL) is demonstrated. Gain competition between the clockwise and anticlockwise ring-cavity modes results in a transition from bidirectional to directional emission as current is increased. In the directional regime, spatial hole burning (SHB) is suppressed, and the spectrum evolves to a single longitudinal mode, in contrast with the multimode spectrum of a comparable Fabry-Perot QCL. The absence of SHB and the long path-length of the external cavity make this laser an excellent candidate for active mode-locking and high-sensitivity spectroscopic applications in the mid-infrared. A proof-of-principle intracavity absorption spectroscopic detection of water vapor is demonstrated. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics.

Journal/Review: APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS

Volume: 102 (14)      Pages from: 141105  to: 141105

More Information: The authors wish to thank Anish Goyal from MIT Lincoln Laboratory for the anti-reflection coatings and Franz Kartner for helpful discussions and suggestions. We acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Award No. ECCS-1230477. T. S. M. was supported by an NSF Graduate Student Fellowship. This work was performed in part at the Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS) at Harvard University, a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), which is supported by the NSF.
KeyWords: Active mode locking; Directional emission; Intracavity absorption; Proof of principles; Single longitudinal mode; Spatial hole burning; Spectroscopic application; Spectroscopic detection, Mode-locked fiber lasers; Quantum cascade lasers, Absorption spectroscopy
DOI: 10.1063/1.4800073

Citations: 19
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