Terahertz graphene lasers: Injection versus optical pumping

Abstract

We analyze the formation of nonequilibrium states in optically pumped graphene layers and in forward-biased graphene structures with lateral p-i-n junctions and consider the conditions of population inversion and lasing. The model used accounts for intraband and interband relaxation processes as well as deviation of the optical phonon system from equilibrium. As shown, optical pumping suffers from a significant heating of both the electron-hole plasma and the optical phonon system, which can suppress the formation of population inversion. In the graphene structures with p-i-n junction, the injected electrons and holes have relatively low energies, so that the effect of cooling can be rather pronounced, providing a significant advantage of the injection pumping in realization of graphene terahertz lasers.