Princeton Docket # 10-2616
Broadly tunable QC lasers are ideal candidates for multi-analyte mid-infrared spectroscopy application. However, the maximum tuning range is usually limited by the inherently narrow gain spectrum of intersubband transitions. Princeton researchers have developed a ¿continuum-to-bound¿ QC laser, with two lower injector states rather than one, strongly coupled with the upper laser state at the operational electrical fields so that three transitions contribute to a broad gain spectrum. The strong coupling facilitates carrier transport from the injectors to the active region.
Applications
· Broadband amplifier
· Widely wavelength tunable lasers
Advantages
· Broadened tuning range
· Facilitated carrier transport
Publication
Y. Yao, W.O. Charles, T. Tsai, J.X. Chen, G. Wysocki, and C.F. Gmachl, ¿Broadband quantum cascade laser gain medium based on a "continuum-to-bound" active region design¿, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96(21) 211106 (2010)
Principal Investigator
Clair Gmachl, Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of MIRTHE, is the principle inventor for these QC laser technologies. Her research group is working on the development of new quantum devices, especially lasers, and their optimization for sensor systems and their applications in environment and health. Among the numerous honors Professor Gmachl has received are Election to Austrian Academy of Sciences as Corresponding Member Abroad (2008), MacArthur Fellow (2005), and Popular Science Magazine's list of Brilliant 10 (2004).
Intellectual Property status