Coherent sampling of active mode-locked terahertz quantum cascade lasers and frequency synthesis

Researchers demonstrate a terahertz quantum cascade laser operating in a regime of active mode-locking by modulating its bias current with a radiofrequency synthesizer. This technique allows coherent sampling of the terahertz electric field as well as control over the laser's carrier–envelope phase shift.

[1]  Xavier Marcadet,et al.  Phase-resolved measurements of stimulated emission in a laser , 2007, Nature.

[2]  M. Först,et al.  Asynchronous optical sampling for high-speed characterization of integrated resonant terahertz sensors. , 2005, Optics letters.

[3]  Sarah E. Harris,et al.  Nonlinear theory of the internally loss modulated laser , 1966 .

[4]  T. Hänsch,et al.  Optical frequency metrology , 2002, Nature.

[5]  C Janke,et al.  Ultrafast time-domain spectroscopy based on high-speed asynchronous optical sampling. , 2007, The Review of scientific instruments.

[6]  E. Linfield,et al.  Heterodyne mixing of two far-infrared quantum cascade lasers by use of a point-contact Schottky diode. , 2004, Optics letters.

[7]  Gregor E. Morfill,et al.  Spectroscopic evaluation of the effect of the microparticles on radiofrequency argon plasma , 2009 .

[8]  Carlo Sirtori,et al.  Phase-locking of a 2.7-THz quantum cascade laser to a mode-locked erbium-doped fibre laser , 2010 .

[9]  S. Corzine,et al.  Coherent instabilities in a semiconductor laser with fast gain recovery , 2007 .

[10]  Scott W. Corzine,et al.  Multimode regimes in quantum cascade lasers: From coherent instabilities to spatial hole burning , 2008 .

[11]  Jérôme Faist,et al.  Low frequency terahertz quantum cascade laser operating from 1.6to1.8THz , 2006 .

[12]  C. Sirtori,et al.  Microwave modulation of terahertz quantum cascade lasers: a transmission-line approach , 2010 .

[13]  C. Sirtori,et al.  Investigation of spectral gain narrowing in quantum cascade lasers using terahertz time domain spectroscopy , 2008 .

[14]  R Gebs,et al.  High-speed asynchronous optical sampling with sub-50fs time resolution. , 2010, Optics express.

[15]  I. Coddington,et al.  Coherent multiheterodyne spectroscopy using stabilized optical frequency combs. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[16]  Qing Hu,et al.  186 K Operation of Terahertz Quantum-Cascade Lasers Based on a Diagonal Design , 2009 .

[17]  David A. Ritchie,et al.  THz and sub‐THz quantum cascade lasers , 2009 .

[18]  Jérôme Faist,et al.  Quantum cascade lasers operating from 1.2to1.6THz , 2007 .

[19]  R. Terazzi,et al.  Bound-to-continuum terahertz quantum cascade laser with a single-quantum-well phonon extraction/injection stage , 2009 .

[20]  B. Williams.  Terahertz quantum cascade lasers , 2007, 2008 Asia Optical Fiber Communication & Optoelectronic Exposition & Conference.

[21]  Hall,et al.  Carrier-envelope phase control of femtosecond mode-locked lasers and direct optical frequency synthesis , 2000, Science.

[22]  Markus Brehm,et al.  Frequency-comb infrared spectrometer for rapid, remote chemical sensing. , 2005, Optics express.

[23]  Mattias Beck,et al.  Broadband THz lasing from a photon-phonon quantum cascade structure emitting from 2.8 to 4.1 THz. , 2010, CLEO/QELS: 2010 Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[24]  Carlo Sirtori,et al.  13GHz direct modulation of terahertz quantum cascade lasers , 2007 .

[25]  A. Davies,et al.  Terahertz time domain spectroscopy of phonon-depopulation based quantum cascade lasers , 2009, CLEO/QELS: 2010 Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[26]  Roberto Paiella,et al.  Intersubband Transitions In Quantum Structures , 2006 .

[27]  Federico Capasso,et al.  Mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. , 2009, Optics express.

[28]  F. Kärtner,et al.  Dynamics of actively mode-locked Quantum Cascade Lasers. , 2010, Optics express.

[29]  F. Capasso,et al.  Monolithic active mode locking of quantum cascade lasers , 2000 .

[30]  Federico Capasso,et al.  Self-mode-locking of quantum cascade lasers with giant ultrafast optical nonlinearities. , 2000, Science.

[31]  Jun Ye,et al.  Phase-Coherent Optical Pulse Synthesis from Separate Femtosecond Lasers , 2001, Science.

[32]  N. Laurendeau,et al.  Pump/probe method for fast analysis of visible spectral signatures utilizing asynchronous optical sampling. , 1987, Applied optics.

[33]  Juan Montoya,et al.  Spectral behavior of a terahertz quantum-cascade laser. , 2009, Optics express.

[34]  I. Sagnes,et al.  Injection-locking of terahertz quantum cascade lasers up to 35GHz via RF amplitude modulation , 2010, 35th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves.

[35]  A. Davies,et al.  Linewidth and tuning characteristics of terahertz quantum cascade lasers. , 2004, Optics letters.

[36]  Federico Capasso,et al.  High-frequency modulation without the relaxation oscillation resonance in quantum cascade lasers , 2001 .

[37]  E. Linfield,et al.  Terahertz semiconductor-heterostructure laser , 2002, Nature.

[38]  Takeshi Yasui,et al.  Asynchronous optical sampling terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for ultrahigh spectral resolution and rapid data acquisition , 2005 .

[39]  Edmund H. Linfield,et al.  2.9THz quantum cascade lasers operating up to 70K in continuous wave , 2004 .

[40]  Marcella Giovannini,et al.  Gain recovery dynamics and photon-driven transport in quantum cascade lasers. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[41]  Satoru Adachi,et al.  Dual wavelength optical sampling technique for ultrafast transient bleaching spectroscopy , 1995 .