High-Performance Interband Cascade Lasers Emitting in the 2.9-4.2 μm Wavelength Range

摘要

Advances in the development of mid-IR antimonide type-II "W" interband cascade lasers (ICLs) have recently led to the first demonstration of continuous wave operation at room temperature. The 5-stage narrow-ridge Au-electroplated ICL emitted at λ = 3.75 μm produced over 10 mW of cw power at 300 K and operated to 319 K. The considerable increase in T_(max) was realized by carefully optimizing both the design and the MBE growth of these complicated multilayer structures. The internal loss was decreased by reducing the doping in the claddings and separate-confinement regions, and then using fewer stages to take advantage of the lower dissipated power density while still having enough gain to reach threshold. We find that the improved properties are similarly available in devices spanning the spectral window of at least 3.2-4.2 μm.