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High-speed modulation of a terahertz quantum cascade laser by coherent acoustic phonon pulses

Author

Listed:
  • Aniela Dunn

    (University of Leeds)

  • Caroline Poyser

    (University of Nottingham)

  • Paul Dean

    (University of Leeds)

  • Aleksandar Demić

    (University of Leeds)

  • Alexander Valavanis

    (University of Leeds)

  • Dragan Indjin

    (University of Leeds)

  • Mohammed Salih

    (University of Leeds)

  • Iman Kundu

    (University of Leeds)

  • Lianhe Li

    (University of Leeds)

  • Andrey Akimov

    (University of Nottingham)

  • Alexander Giles Davies

    (University of Leeds)

  • Edmund Linfield

    (University of Leeds)

  • John Cunningham

    (University of Leeds)

  • Anthony Kent

    (University of Nottingham)

Abstract

The fast modulation of lasers is a fundamental requirement for applications in optical communications, high-resolution spectroscopy and metrology. In the terahertz-frequency range, the quantum-cascade laser (QCL) is a high-power source with the potential for high-frequency modulation. However, conventional electronic modulation is limited fundamentally by parasitic device impedance, and so alternative physical processes must be exploited to modulate the QCL gain on ultrafast timescales. Here, we demonstrate an alternative mechanism to modulate the emission from a QCL device, whereby optically-generated acoustic phonon pulses are used to perturb the QCL bandstructure, enabling fast amplitude modulation that can be controlled using the QCL drive current or strain pulse amplitude, to a maximum modulation depth of 6% in our experiment. We show that this modulation can be explained using perturbation theory analysis. While the modulation rise-time was limited to ~800 ps by our measurement system, theoretical considerations suggest considerably faster modulation could be possible.

Suggested Citation

  • Aniela Dunn & Caroline Poyser & Paul Dean & Aleksandar Demić & Alexander Valavanis & Dragan Indjin & Mohammed Salih & Iman Kundu & Lianhe Li & Andrey Akimov & Alexander Giles Davies & Edmund Linfield , 2020. "High-speed modulation of a terahertz quantum cascade laser by coherent acoustic phonon pulses," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14662-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14662-w
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