Citation:
Christine Y. Wang, Lyuba Kuznetsova, V. M. Gkortsas, L. Diehl, F. X. Kaertner, M. A. Belkin, A. Belyanin, X. Li, D. Ham, H. Schneider, P. Grant, C. Y. Song, S. Haffouz, Z. R. Wasilewski, H. C. Liu, and Federico Capasso. 2009. “
Mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared Quantum Cascade Lasers.” OPTICS EXPRESS, 17, 15, Pp. 12929-12943.
Abstract:
In this study, we report the unequivocal demonstration of mid-infrared 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. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America
