Progress in High Performance Quantum Cascade Lasers

Speaker: Arkadiy Lyakh, NanoScience Technology Center, UCF
PSB 160/161, 4:00-5:00pm

Abstract: Band engineering is a very powerful technique for the design of novel semiconductor devices. Individual control of material composition (band gap), thickness, and doping level for each layer in a heterostructure offers unprecedented flexibility in optimizing device characteristics to a particular application. Band engineering will be discussed in the context of Quantum Cascade Lasers, or QCLs. These devices are revolutionizing infrared laser applications in spectroscopy, imaging, directed infrared countermeasures, and other defense and security areas. QCL design principles will be considered, along with their electronic, optical and thermal properties. Current research trends in the field will be covered, including optical power scaling, broadly tunable lasers with ultra-fast scanning rate, and QCL-based frequency combs.