Concept of internal mixing in semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers for room-temperature generation of tunable continuous terahertz waves

Abstract

We discuss the potential for creating a tunable continuous-wave source for the 1–5 THz frequency range based on nonlinear mixing in the active medium of a dual-color semiconductor laser or laser amplifier. Our analysis for the 1.55 μ m wavelength regime shows that intracavity mixing, after minimization of THz waveguide losses and optimization of the second-order nonlinearity of the active medium, should provide up to 100 μ W of THz power at an optical power of 100 mW per color.