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Tuning a terahertz wire laser

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Abstract

Tunable terahertz lasers are desirable in applications in sensing and spectroscopy because many biochemical species have strong spectral fingerprints at terahertz frequencies. Conventionally, the frequency of a laser is tuned in a similar manner to a stringed musical instrument, in which pitch is varied by changing the length of the string (the longitudinal component of the wave vector) and/or its tension (the refractive index). However, such methods are difficult to implement in terahertz semiconductor lasers because of their poor outcoupling efficiencies. Here, we demonstrate a novel tuning mechanism based on a unique ‘wire laser’ device for which the transverse dimension w is ≪λ. Placing a movable object close to the wire laser manipulates a large fraction of the waveguided mode propagating outside the cavity, thereby tuning its resonant frequency. Continuous single-mode redshift and blueshift tuning is demonstrated for the same device by using either a dielectric or metallic movable object. In combination, this enables a frequency tuning of ∼137 GHz (3.6%) from a single laser device at ∼3.8 THz.

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Figure 1: Illustration of different tuning mechanisms.
Figure 2: The concept of tuning a wire laser.
Figure 3: Experimental setup and simulation results.
Figure 4: Tuning results from device T114.
Figure 5: Continuous tuning spectra.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Science Foundation. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC04-94AL85000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Qi Qin, Benjamin S. Williams, Sushil Kumar & Qing Hu

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, California, USA

    Benjamin S. Williams

  3. Department 1123, Sandia National Laboratories, MS 0601, Albuquerque, 87185-0601, New Mexico, USA

    John L. Reno

Authors
  1. Qi Qin
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  2. Benjamin S. Williams
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  3. Sushil Kumar
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  4. John L. Reno
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  5. Qing Hu
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Correspondence to Qing Hu.

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Qin, Q., Williams, B., Kumar, S. et al. Tuning a terahertz wire laser. Nature Photon 3, 732–737 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.218

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.218

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