Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser

Feihu Wang; Hanond Nong; Tobias Fobbe; Valentino Pistore; Sarah Houver; Sergej Markmann; Nathan Jukam; Maria Amanti; Carlo Sirtori; Souad Moumdji; Raffaele Colombelli; Lianhe Li; Edmund Linfield; Giles Davies; Juliette Mangeney; Jérôme Tignon; Sukhdeep Dhillon

doi:10.1002/lpor.201700013

Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser

Feihu Wang, Hanond Nong, Tobias Fobbe, Valentino Pistore, Sarah Houver, Sergej Markmann, Nathan Jukam, Maria Amanti, Carlo Sirtori, Souad Moumdji, Raffaele Colombelli, Lianhe Li, Edmund Linfield, Giles Davies, Juliette Mangeney, Jérôme Tignon, Sukhdeep Dhillon^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

78 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dispersion compensation is vital for the generation of ultrashort and single cycle pulses from modelocked lasers across the electromagnetic spectrum. It is typically based on addition of an extra dispersive element to the laser cavity that introduces a chromatic dispersion opposite to that of the gain medium. To date, however, no dispersion compensation schemes have been successfully applied to terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers for short and stable pulse generation in the THz range. In this work, a monolithic on-chip compensation scheme is realized for a modelocked QCL, permitting THz pulses to be considerably shortened from 16ps to 4ps. This is based on the realization of a small coupled cavity resonator that acts as an ‘off resonance’ Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI), permitting large THz spectral bandwidths to be compensated. This novel application of a GTI opens up a direct and simple route to sub-picosecond and single cycle pulses in the THz range from a compact semiconductor source.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	1700013
Journal	Laser and Photonics Reviews
Volume	11
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.201700013
State	Published - Jul 2017

Funding

FW, HN, VP, SH performed the experiments, TF, HN, SM, NJ contributed to the data interpretation and performed the theoretical development and simulations. MA, CS, SM and RC performed the device design and realization. LHL, EHL and AGD performed the growth of the samples. FW, HN, NJ, AGD, JM, JT, SSD wrote and developed the paper. FW, SSD contributed to the original scheme. The authors acknowledge funding from European Union FET-Open grant ULTRAQCL 665158, ANR-12-NANO-0014 “PhaseLock”, the EPSRC (UK), the EC programme (TOSCA), ERC “GEM” grant, the Royal Society and Wolfson Foundation and the Conseil Général de l'Essonne.

Keywords

Active mode-locking
Gires-Tournois interferometer
Quantum cascade laser
Short pulse generation
Terahertz

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Condensed Matter Physics

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10.1002/lpor.201700013

Cite this

Wang, F., Nong, H., Fobbe, T., Pistore, V., Houver, S., Markmann, S., Jukam, N., Amanti, M., Sirtori, C., Moumdji, S., Colombelli, R., Li, L., Linfield, E., Davies, G., Mangeney, J., Tignon, J., & Dhillon, S. (2017). Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser. Laser and Photonics Reviews, 11(4), Article 1700013. https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.201700013

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title = "Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser",

abstract = "Dispersion compensation is vital for the generation of ultrashort and single cycle pulses from modelocked lasers across the electromagnetic spectrum. It is typically based on addition of an extra dispersive element to the laser cavity that introduces a chromatic dispersion opposite to that of the gain medium. To date, however, no dispersion compensation schemes have been successfully applied to terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers for short and stable pulse generation in the THz range. In this work, a monolithic on-chip compensation scheme is realized for a modelocked QCL, permitting THz pulses to be considerably shortened from 16ps to 4ps. This is based on the realization of a small coupled cavity resonator that acts as an {\textquoteleft}off resonance{\textquoteright} Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI), permitting large THz spectral bandwidths to be compensated. This novel application of a GTI opens up a direct and simple route to sub-picosecond and single cycle pulses in the THz range from a compact semiconductor source.",

keywords = "Active mode-locking, Gires-Tournois interferometer, Quantum cascade laser, Short pulse generation, Terahertz",

author = "Feihu Wang and Hanond Nong and Tobias Fobbe and Valentino Pistore and Sarah Houver and Sergej Markmann and Nathan Jukam and Maria Amanti and Carlo Sirtori and Souad Moumdji and Raffaele Colombelli and Lianhe Li and Edmund Linfield and Giles Davies and Juliette Mangeney and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Tignon and Sukhdeep Dhillon",

note = "Funding Information: FW, HN, VP, SH performed the experiments, TF, HN, SM, NJ contributed to the data interpretation and performed the theoretical development and simulations. MA, CS, SM and RC performed the device design and realization. LHL, EHL and AGD performed the growth of the samples. FW, HN, NJ, AGD, JM, JT, SSD wrote and developed the paper. FW, SSD contributed to the original scheme. The authors acknowledge funding from European Union FET-Open grant ULTRAQCL 665158, ANR-12-NANO-0014 “PhaseLock”, the EPSRC (UK), the EC programme (TOSCA), ERC “GEM” grant, the Royal Society and Wolfson Foundation and the Conseil G{\'e}n{\'e}ral de l'Essonne. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim",

year = "2017",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1002/lpor.201700013",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "11",

journal = "Laser and Photonics Reviews",

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Wang, F, Nong, H, Fobbe, T, Pistore, V, Houver, S, Markmann, S, Jukam, N, Amanti, M, Sirtori, C, Moumdji, S, Colombelli, R, Li, L, Linfield, E, Davies, G, Mangeney, J, Tignon, J & Dhillon, S 2017, 'Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser', Laser and Photonics Reviews, vol. 11, no. 4, 1700013. https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.201700013

TY - JOUR

T1 - Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser

AU - Wang, Feihu

AU - Nong, Hanond

AU - Fobbe, Tobias

AU - Pistore, Valentino

AU - Houver, Sarah

AU - Markmann, Sergej

AU - Jukam, Nathan

AU - Amanti, Maria

AU - Sirtori, Carlo

AU - Moumdji, Souad

AU - Colombelli, Raffaele

AU - Li, Lianhe

AU - Linfield, Edmund

AU - Davies, Giles

AU - Mangeney, Juliette

AU - Tignon, Jérôme

AU - Dhillon, Sukhdeep

N1 - Funding Information: FW, HN, VP, SH performed the experiments, TF, HN, SM, NJ contributed to the data interpretation and performed the theoretical development and simulations. MA, CS, SM and RC performed the device design and realization. LHL, EHL and AGD performed the growth of the samples. FW, HN, NJ, AGD, JM, JT, SSD wrote and developed the paper. FW, SSD contributed to the original scheme. The authors acknowledge funding from European Union FET-Open grant ULTRAQCL 665158, ANR-12-NANO-0014 “PhaseLock”, the EPSRC (UK), the EC programme (TOSCA), ERC “GEM” grant, the Royal Society and Wolfson Foundation and the Conseil Général de l'Essonne. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

PY - 2017/7

Y1 - 2017/7

N2 - Dispersion compensation is vital for the generation of ultrashort and single cycle pulses from modelocked lasers across the electromagnetic spectrum. It is typically based on addition of an extra dispersive element to the laser cavity that introduces a chromatic dispersion opposite to that of the gain medium. To date, however, no dispersion compensation schemes have been successfully applied to terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers for short and stable pulse generation in the THz range. In this work, a monolithic on-chip compensation scheme is realized for a modelocked QCL, permitting THz pulses to be considerably shortened from 16ps to 4ps. This is based on the realization of a small coupled cavity resonator that acts as an ‘off resonance’ Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI), permitting large THz spectral bandwidths to be compensated. This novel application of a GTI opens up a direct and simple route to sub-picosecond and single cycle pulses in the THz range from a compact semiconductor source.

AB - Dispersion compensation is vital for the generation of ultrashort and single cycle pulses from modelocked lasers across the electromagnetic spectrum. It is typically based on addition of an extra dispersive element to the laser cavity that introduces a chromatic dispersion opposite to that of the gain medium. To date, however, no dispersion compensation schemes have been successfully applied to terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers for short and stable pulse generation in the THz range. In this work, a monolithic on-chip compensation scheme is realized for a modelocked QCL, permitting THz pulses to be considerably shortened from 16ps to 4ps. This is based on the realization of a small coupled cavity resonator that acts as an ‘off resonance’ Gires-Tournois interferometer (GTI), permitting large THz spectral bandwidths to be compensated. This novel application of a GTI opens up a direct and simple route to sub-picosecond and single cycle pulses in the THz range from a compact semiconductor source.

KW - Active mode-locking

KW - Gires-Tournois interferometer

KW - Quantum cascade laser

KW - Short pulse generation

KW - Terahertz

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U2 - 10.1002/lpor.201700013

DO - 10.1002/lpor.201700013

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85021986350

SN - 1863-8880

VL - 11

JO - Laser and Photonics Reviews

JF - Laser and Photonics Reviews

IS - 4

M1 - 1700013

ER -

Short Terahertz Pulse Generation from a Dispersion Compensated Modelocked Semiconductor Laser

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