Abstract
At present GaInAs/AlInAs based quantum cascade (QC) lasers represent the state-of-the-art with respect to the short-wavelength (< 5 μm) performance of the QC laser concept. This performance, however, is intrinsically limited by the available conduction band offset of 0.5–0.7 eV, thus motivating research on materials combinations with larger band offsets, such as GaN/AlN and InAs/AlSb. A particularly attractive materials combination is GaInAs/AlAsSb grown lattice-matched on InP. It offers a Γ-point conduction band offset of ∼ 1.6 eV, while the mature growth and processing technologies available for InP-based lasers can be used and the favorable properties of InP as a waveguide cladding material can be exploited. In this paper recent advances in GaInAs/AlAsSb QC laser research will be reviewed, leading to a maximum pulsed operating temperature of > 400K for devices emitting at 4.6 μm and an impressive maximum peak output power of 8W at 77K (corresponding to a total power efficiency of 23 %) for a QC laser emitting at 3.7 μm. Furthermore, current limitations of the GaInAs/AlAsSb QC laser concept and challenges for future research are discussed.
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Yang, Q., Manz, C., Bronner, W., Mann, C., Köhler, K., Wagner, J. (2008). GaInAs/AlAsSb Quantum Cascade Lasers: A New Approach towards 3-to-5 μm Semiconductor Lasers. In: Advances in Solid State Physics. Advances in Solid State Physics, vol 46. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-38235-5_17
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