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Quantum cascade lasers

A glass half full

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Researchers from Princeton and Northwestern Universities have independently demonstrated, through different design strategies, mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers with wall-plug efficiencies reaching 50%. The result is a quantum cascade laser so efficient that it generates more light than heat, albeit at low temperatures of operation.

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Figure 1: Key physical process in the Gmachl study2.
Figure 2: Key physical process in the Razeghi study3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. and is also associated with the Department of Physics, Hui Chun Liu is at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council, Ottawa K1A 0R6, Canada, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China. h.c.liu@nrc.ca,

    Hui Chun Liu

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  1. Hui Chun Liu
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Liu, H. A glass half full. Nature Photon 4, 69–70 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.274

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