Effect of cold finger temperature on optical pulse modulation characteristics in a 2.59 terahertz quantum cascade laser

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) frequency sources such as quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) offer a variety of new applications in far-infrared frequency bands. For better understanding of their behavior, a device-specific modeling approach is used to predict the optical output power under current modulation and chip temperature. This letter reports the numerical simulation of gain switching to evaluate temperature dependence for short pulse generation in QCLs. Modified rate equations are used for self-consistent computation of emitted THz optical power from QCLs. The device emits at 116 µm and is driven by various inputs such as haversine, tangential hyperbolic and square electrical pulses. From the simulation it is evident that the square input pulse requires the least magnitude current (0.83 A) at 15 K to generate pulses with minimum full width half maximum (FWHM). Moreover, when the peak amplitude of the square input signal is 1.01 A, it generates optical pulses with the least FWHM of 19.42 ps at 45 K. In the case of the haversine input with peak amplitude of 1.8A, a peak power of 27.86 mW is generated at 15 K.