Ideal performance of cascade and noncascade intersubband and interband long-wavelength semiconductor lasers

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 75; no. 14; pp. 2020 - 2022
• Main Authors: Flatté, Michael E., Olesberg, J. T., Grein, C. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 04-10-1999
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.124902

The ideal performance of cascade and noncascade intersubband and interband laser active regions is directly compared in a cavity-insensitive way. For devices not limited by series resistance or series voltage (such as can in principle be accomplished by cascading) the relevant figure of merit is the net material gain per unit volumetric power dissipation density in the active region. This figure of merit is evaluated at 77 and 300 K for a variety of structures relying on interband and intersubband transitions, each of which may constitute the active region of a cascade or noncascade device. A design for an 11 μm laser active region is proposed whose ideal performance exceeds that of current intersubband lasers.