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access icon openaccess Mechanically robust waveguide-integration and beam shaping of terahertz quantum cascade lasers

This is an open access article published by the IET under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Received 02/04/2015, Published 28/05/2015
Errata or comment

Terahertz-frequency quantum cascade lasers (THz QCLs) have numerous potential applications as 1–5 THz radiation sources in space science, biomedical and industrial sensing scenarios. However, the key obstacles to their wide-scale adoption outside laboratory environments have included their poor far-field beam quality and the lack of mechanically robust schemes that allow integration of QCLs with THz waveguides, mixers and other system components. A block integration scheme is presented, in which a continuous-wave ∼3.4 THz double-metal QCL is bonded into a precision-machined rectangular waveguide within a copper heat-sink block. This highly reproducible approach provides a single-lobed far-field beam profile with a divergence of ≲20°, and with no significant degradation in threshold current or in the range of operating temperatures.

Inspec keywords: heat sinks; terahertz wave devices; rectangular waveguides; optical pulse shaping; copper; quantum cascade lasers

Other keywords: mechanically robust waveguide-integration; beam shaping; copper heat-sink block; single-lobed far-field beam profile; precision-machined rectangular waveguide; threshold current; terahertz-frequency quantum cascade lasers; Cu; frequency 1 THz to 5 THz; block integration scheme

Subjects: Design of specific laser systems; Laser beam modulation, pulsing and switching; mode locking and tuning; Waveguides and microwave transmission lines; Semiconductor lasers; Ultrafast optical techniques; Laser beam modulation, pulsing and switching; mode locking and tuning; Lasing action in semiconductors

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Erratum: ‘Mechanically robust waveguide-integration and beam shaping of terahertz quantum cascade lasers’
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