Modeling of electron relaxation processes and the optical gain in a magnetic-field assisted THz quantum cascade laser

Abstract

We present a detailed model for calculating the optical gain of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) that operates in the terahertz spectral range, when subjected to a strong magnetic field, as well as the total relaxation rates due to the emission of longitudinal-optical phonons and interface roughness scattering, as a function of the applied field. When the magnetic field is applied in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the layers, each energy state is split into a series of discrete Landau levels, which are magnetically tunable, and it is therefore possible to control the modulation of the population inversion and consequently the optical gain just by varying the magnetic field. In this model, the gain is obtained by solving the full system of rate equations, from which one can calculate the carrier density of each level. The simulations are performed on a system that comprises a two-well design QCL that operates at 4.6 THz, implemented in GaAs/Al0.15Ga0.85As. Numerical results are presented for magnetic field values from 1.5 T up to 20 T, while the band non-parabolicity is taken into account.