TY - JOUR
T1 - Theoretical model of passive mode-locking in terahertz quantum cascade lasers with distributed saturable absorbers
AU - Seitner, Lukas
AU - Popp, Johannes
AU - Haider, Michael
AU - Dhillon, Sukhdeep S.
AU - Vitiello, Miriam S.
AU - Jirauschek, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston.
PY - 2024/4/3
Y1 - 2024/4/3
N2 - In research and engineering, short laser pulses are fundamental for metrology and communication. The generation of pulses by passive mode-locking is especially desirable due to the compact setup dimensions, without the need for active modulation requiring dedicated external circuitry. However, well-established models do not cover regular self-pulsing in gain media that recover faster than the cavity round trip time. For quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), this marked a significant limitation in their operation, as they exhibit picosecond gain dynamics associated with intersubband transitions. We present a model that gives detailed insights into the pulse dynamics of the first passively mode-locked QCL that was recently demonstrated. The presence of an incoherent saturable absorber, exemplarily realized by multilayer graphene distributed along the cavity, drives the laser into a pulsed state by exhibiting a similarly fast recovery time as the gain medium. This previously unstudied state of laser operation reveals a remarkable response of the gain medium on unevenly distributed intracavity intensity. We show that in presence of strong spatial hole burning in the laser gain medium, the pulse stabilizes itself by suppressing counter-propagating light and getting shortened again at the cavity facets. Finally, we study the robustness of passive mode-locking with respect to the saturable absorber properties and identify strategies for generating even shorter pulses. The obtained results may also have implications for other nanostructured mode-locked laser sources, for example, based on quantum dots.
AB - In research and engineering, short laser pulses are fundamental for metrology and communication. The generation of pulses by passive mode-locking is especially desirable due to the compact setup dimensions, without the need for active modulation requiring dedicated external circuitry. However, well-established models do not cover regular self-pulsing in gain media that recover faster than the cavity round trip time. For quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), this marked a significant limitation in their operation, as they exhibit picosecond gain dynamics associated with intersubband transitions. We present a model that gives detailed insights into the pulse dynamics of the first passively mode-locked QCL that was recently demonstrated. The presence of an incoherent saturable absorber, exemplarily realized by multilayer graphene distributed along the cavity, drives the laser into a pulsed state by exhibiting a similarly fast recovery time as the gain medium. This previously unstudied state of laser operation reveals a remarkable response of the gain medium on unevenly distributed intracavity intensity. We show that in presence of strong spatial hole burning in the laser gain medium, the pulse stabilizes itself by suppressing counter-propagating light and getting shortened again at the cavity facets. Finally, we study the robustness of passive mode-locking with respect to the saturable absorber properties and identify strategies for generating even shorter pulses. The obtained results may also have implications for other nanostructured mode-locked laser sources, for example, based on quantum dots.
KW - Maxwell-Bloch
KW - frequency comb
KW - graphene
KW - passive mode-locking
KW - quantum cascade laser
KW - terahertz
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184515055&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/nanoph-2023-0657
DO - 10.1515/nanoph-2023-0657
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85184515055
SN - 2192-8614
VL - 13
SP - 1823
EP - 1834
JO - Nanophotonics
JF - Nanophotonics
IS - 10
ER -