Interband cascade lasers (ICLs) are a type of laser diode that can produce coherent radiation over a large part of the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. They are fabricated from epitaxially-grown semiconductor heterostructures composed of layers of indium arsenide (InAs), gallium antimonide (GaSb), aluminum antimonide (AlSb), and related alloys. These lasers are similar to quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) in several ways. Like QCLs, ICLs employ the concept of bandstructure engineering to achieve an optimized laser design and reuse injected electrons to emit multiple photons. However, in ICLs, photons are generated with interband transitions, rather than the intersubband transitions used in QCLs. Consequently, the rate at which the carriers injected into the upper laser subband thermally relax to the lower subband is determined by interband Auger, radiative, and Shockley-Read carrier recombination. These processes typically occur on a much slower time scale than the longitudinal optical phonon interactions that mediates the intersubband relaxation of injected electrons in mid-IR QCLs. The use of interband transitions allows laser action in ICLs to be achieved at lower electrical input powers than is possible with QCLs.
The basic concept of an ICL was proposed by Rui Q. Yang in 1994. The key insight he had was that the incorporation of a type-II heterostructure similar to those used in interband resonant tunneling diodes would facilitate the possibility of cascade lasers that use interband transitions for photon generation. Further improvement to the design and development of the technology was carried out by Yang and his collaborators at several institutions, as well as by groups at the Naval Research Laboratory and other institutions. ICLs lasing in continuous wave (cw) mode at room temperature were first demonstrated in 2008. This laser had an emission wavelength of 3.75 μm. Subsequently, cw operation of ICLs at room temperature has been demonstrated with emission wavelengths ranging from 2.9 μm to 6.2 μm. ICLs at cooler temperatures have been demonstrated with emission wavelengths between 2.7 μm to 11.2 μm. ICLs operating in cw mode at ambient temperature are able to achieve lasing at much lower input powers than competing mid-IR semiconductor laser technologies.
Theory of operation
In a standard multiple quantum well laser, the active quantum wells used to generate photons are connected in parallel. Consequently, a large current is required to replenish each active well with electrons as it emits light. In a cascade laser, the wells are connected in series, meaning that the voltage is higher but the current is lower. This tradeoff is beneficial because the input power dissipated by the device's series resistance, Rs, is equal to I2Rs, where I is the electric current flowing through the device. Thus, the lower current in a cascade laser results in less power loss from the device's series resistance. However, devices with more stages tend to have poorer thermal performance, since more heat is generated in locations farther from the heat sink. The optimal number of stages depends on the wavelength, material used, and several other factors. The optimization of this number is guided by simulations, but ultimately determined empirically by studying the experimental laser performance. ICLs are fabricated from semiconductor heterostructures grown using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The materials used in the structure are InAs, GaSb, AlSb, and related alloys. These three binary materials are very closely lattice matched with lattice parameters close to 6.1 Å. Thus, these materials can be incorporated together in the same heterostructure without introducing a significant amount of strain. The MBE growth is typically done on either a GaSb or InAs substrate. The entire epitaxial structure consists of several cascade stages that are sandwiched between two separate confinement layers (SCLs), with other materials enclosing the SCLs to provide optical cladding. In addition to producing light, the layered epitaxial structure must also act as a waveguide so that the cascade stages amplify guided optical modes.
Cascade stage design
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