Short pulse generation from a graphene-coupled passively mode-locked terahertz laser

Elisa Riccardi, Valentino Pistore, Seonggil Kang, Lukas Seitner, Anna De Vetter, Christian Jirauschek, Juliette Mangeney, Lianhe Li, A. Giles Davies, Edmund H. Linfield, Andrea C. Ferrari, Sukhdeep S. Dhillon, Miriam S. Vitiello

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

The generation of stable trains of ultrashort (femtosecond to picosecond), terahertz-frequency radiation pulses with large instantaneous intensities is an underlying requirement for the investigation of light–matter interactions for metrology and ultrahigh-speed communications. In solid-state electrically pumped lasers, the primary route to generate short pulses is through passive mode-locking; however, this has not yet been achieved in the terahertz range, defining one of the longest standing goals over the past two decades. In fact, the realization of passive mode-locking has long been assumed to be inherently hindered by the fast recovery times associated with the intersubband gain of terahertz lasers. Here we demonstrate a self-starting miniaturized short pulse terahertz laser, exploiting an original device architecture that includes the surface patterning of multilayer-graphene saturable absorbers distributed along the entire cavity of a double-metal semiconductor 2.30–3.55 THz wire laser. Self-starting pulsed emission with 4.0-ps-long pulses is demonstrated in a compact, all-electronic, all-passive and inexpensive configuration.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)607-614
Number of pages8
JournalNature Photonics
Volume17
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2023

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