TY - JOUR

T1 - External cavity terahertz quantum cascade laser with a metamaterial/graphene optoelectronic mirror

AU - Almond, Nikita

AU - Qi, Xiaoqiong

AU - Degl'Innocenti, Riccardo

AU - Kindness, Stephen

AU - Michailow, Wladislaw

AU - Wei, Binbin

AU - Braeuninger-Weimer, Philipp

AU - Hofmann, Stephan

AU - Dean, Paul

AU - Indjin, Dragan

AU - Linfield, Edmund

AU - Davies, A. Giles

AU - Rakić, Aleksandar

AU - Beere, Harvey

AU - Ritchie, David

PY - 2020/7/28

Y1 - 2020/7/28

N2 - Photonic engineering of the terahertz emission from a quantum cascade laser (QCL) is fundamental for the exploitation of this unique source in a myriad of applications where it can be implemented, such as spectroscopy, imaging and sensing. Active control of the frequency, power, polarization and beam profile has been achieved through a variety of approaches. In particular, the active control of the emitted frequency, which is difficult to determine a priori, has been achieved through the integration of a photonic structure, and/or by using external cavity arrangements. In this work an external cavity arrangement which implements a metamaterial/graphene optoelectronic mirror as external feedback element is proposed and demonstrated. The reflectivity and dispersion properties of the external active mirror were tuned via electrostatically gating graphene. It was possible to electronically reproduce the mode-switch occurring in a QCL emitting ~ 2.8 THz by mechanically changing the external cavity length formed by an Au mirror. The external cavity arrangement was investigated and described in the framework of self-mixing theory. These results open a way for all-electronic engineering of the QCL emission by the use of a fast reconfigurable external mirror. This approach can uniquely address both power and frequency control, with ~ 100 MHz reconfiguration speeds, using an integrated external element. Furthermore, the metamaterial/graphene mirror strong dispersive properties might be implemented for active mode locking of THz QCLs. Finally, this approach offers a unique opportunity to study the laser dynamics and mode competition in THz QCLs in the self-mixing feedback regime.

AB - Photonic engineering of the terahertz emission from a quantum cascade laser (QCL) is fundamental for the exploitation of this unique source in a myriad of applications where it can be implemented, such as spectroscopy, imaging and sensing. Active control of the frequency, power, polarization and beam profile has been achieved through a variety of approaches. In particular, the active control of the emitted frequency, which is difficult to determine a priori, has been achieved through the integration of a photonic structure, and/or by using external cavity arrangements. In this work an external cavity arrangement which implements a metamaterial/graphene optoelectronic mirror as external feedback element is proposed and demonstrated. The reflectivity and dispersion properties of the external active mirror were tuned via electrostatically gating graphene. It was possible to electronically reproduce the mode-switch occurring in a QCL emitting ~ 2.8 THz by mechanically changing the external cavity length formed by an Au mirror. The external cavity arrangement was investigated and described in the framework of self-mixing theory. These results open a way for all-electronic engineering of the QCL emission by the use of a fast reconfigurable external mirror. This approach can uniquely address both power and frequency control, with ~ 100 MHz reconfiguration speeds, using an integrated external element. Furthermore, the metamaterial/graphene mirror strong dispersive properties might be implemented for active mode locking of THz QCLs. Finally, this approach offers a unique opportunity to study the laser dynamics and mode competition in THz QCLs in the self-mixing feedback regime.

U2 - 10.1063/5.0014251

DO - 10.1063/5.0014251

M3 - Journal article

VL - 117

JO - Applied Physics Letters

JF - Applied Physics Letters

SN - 0003-6951

IS - 4

M1 - 041105

ER -