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Ultra-broadband semiconductor laser

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Abstract

The fundamental mechanism behind laser action leads in general only to narrowband, single-wavelength emission. Several approaches for achieving spectrally broadband laser action have been put forward, such as enhancing the optical feedback in the wings of the gain spectrum1,2, multi-peaked gain spectra3,4, and the most favoured technique at present, ultrashort pulse excitation5,6. Each of these approaches has drawbacks, such as a complex external laser cavity configuration, a non-flat optical gain envelope function, or an inability to operate in continuous mode, respectively. Here we present a monolithic, mid-infrared ‘supercontinuum’ semiconductor laser that has none of these drawbacks. We adopt a quantum cascade7,8 configuration, where a number of dissimilar intersubband optical transitions are made to cooperate in order to provide broadband optical gain from 5 to 8 µm wavelength. Laser action with a Fabry–Pérot spectrum covering all wavelengths from 6 to 8 µm simultaneously is demonstrated with this approach. Lasers that emit light over such an extremely wide wavelength range are of interest for applications as varied as terabit optical data communications9 or ultra-precision metrology10 and spectroscopy11.

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Figure 1: Design results of the supercontinuum laser.
Figure 2: Luminescence spectra.
Figure 3: Above-threshold spectra of the supercontinuum laser.
Figure 4: Light and voltage versus current characteristics of the supercontinuum laser.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. N. G. Chu for help with material characterization, in particular transmission electron microscopy; T. S. Mosely and A. Straub for help with measurements; and D. A. Ackerman for discussions. This work was supported in part by DARPA/US Army Research Office.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, 600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, 07974, New Jersey, USA

    Claire Gmachl, Deborah L. Sivco, Raffaele Colombelli, Federico Capasso & Alfred Y. Cho

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  1. Claire Gmachl
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  2. Deborah L. Sivco
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  3. Raffaele Colombelli
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  4. Federico Capasso
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  5. Alfred Y. Cho
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Correspondence to Claire Gmachl.

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Gmachl, C., Sivco, D., Colombelli, R. et al. Ultra-broadband semiconductor laser. Nature 415, 883–887 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415883a

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