Open AccessUltralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser operating in continuous-wave mode at room temperature
Author(s) -
Cheng Feng,
Jin-Chuan Zhang,
Yanjiao Guan,
Pengchang Yang,
Ning Zhuo,
Shenqiang Zhai,
Junqi Liu,
Lijun Wang,
Shuman Liu,
Fengqi Liu,
Zhanguo Wang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.405528
Subject(s) - continuous wave , optics , materials science , power (physics) , cascade , laser , single mode optical fiber , optoelectronics , quantum cascade laser , physics , chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics
We report an ultralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting at λ ∼ 4.6 µm operating in continuous-wave mode at room temperature. The ultralow power consumption is achieved by using a high gain active region and shortening the device size. For the device with a 0.5-mm-long cavity and 3.2-µm-wide ridge, the threshold power consumption is as low as 0.26 W with an optical output power of 12.6 mW at 10 °C in continuous-wave mode, which represents the world's most advanced level. Furthermore, the threshold power consumption varies linearly with the operating temperature, where the linear change rate of 2.3 mW/K from 10 to 40 °C is low. As a result, the devices also show low threshold power consumption values of 0.33 W even at 40 °C in continuous-wave mode with an optical output power of 6.1 mW. In addition, the lasers can maintain a single-mode operation due to the short cavity length even if no distributed feedback grating is applied.