Princeton Docket # 09-2561
The transport of electrons from
the injector ground level to the upper laser level in the active region of a QC
laser significantly influences the laser performance. The stronger the coupling between these
two levels, the faster electrons can be transferred into the active region, the
better is the performance of the device.
In conventional QC laser designs, the injection barrier between the
injector and the active region has the greatest thickness resulting in a tunnel
coupling of approximately 4-8meV.
Princeton researchers have employed a
novel "ultra-strong coupling" strategy, by utilizing a much thinner injection
barrier, and created an ultra-strong coupling of roughly 20meV, close to the
width of intrinsic transition broadening.
The resulting laser is highly power-efficient. Specifically, the experimental laser
achieved 50% power efficiency, while the best previously reported result was
34%.
Applications
·
Mid-infrared sensor systems for:
o Environmental trace gas sensing
o Medical diagnostics
·
Mid-infrared light source for:
o Infrared counter-measures
o Free-space communication
Advantages
·
High output power
·
High power efficiency
·
Enabling compact, portable, power-efficient, and low-cost
systems
Publication
P.Q. Liu, A.J. Hoffman, M.D. Escarra, K.J. Franz, J.B.
Khurgin, Y. Dikmelik, X.J. Wang, J.Y. Fan, and C.F. Gmachl. ¿Highly
power-efficient quantum cascade lasers¿, Nature Photonics 4(2) 95 ¿ 96 (2010)
Principal
Investigator
Clair
Gmachl, Eugene
Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering
and Director
of MIRTHE, is the
principle inventor for these QC
laser technologies. Her
research group
is working on the development of new
quantum devices, especially lasers, and their optimization for sensor systems
and their applications in environment and health. Among the numerous
honors Professor Gmachl has received are Election to Austrian Academy of
Sciences as Corresponding Member Abroad (2008), MacArthur Fellow (2005), and
Popular Science Magazine's list of Brilliant 10
(2004).
Intellectual Property status
Patent protection is
pending.