RF modulation of the injected current at the cavity round trip frequency is a viable path towards multi-mode operation in a THz metasurface quantum-cascade VECSEL. Under weak RF modulation, pulling and locking of the round-trip frequency to the injected RF signal is observed; under strong RF modulation, broadening of the lasing spectrum with a maximum observable bandwidth as large as 300 GHz is demonstrated. It is shown that the injection locking behavior is sensitive to the cavity length (varied between 35-50 mm), as well as the presence of optical feedback. Long-travel FTIR measurements enable resolution of the lasing modes.
Terahertz (THz) quantum-cascade VECSELs are strong candidates for frequency-agile local oscillators for next generation heterodyne instruments for astrophysical observations. In this work, a THz QC-VECSEL with a tuning range of 2.48 THz to 2.95 THz (17% fractional) is demonstrated. Additionally, the effects of the output coupler are studied since the frequency dependent reflectance of the output coupler causes variation in the laser properties with tuning. To suppress Fabry-Perot oscillations, a silicon output coupler with an etch-based anti-reflective coating is demonstrated.
RF injection locking of a terahertz Quantum-Cascade Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (QC-VECSEL) is demonstrated. The intra-cryostat focusing VECSEL cavity design allows continuous wave lasing in an external cavity length over 30 mm with a round-trip frequency near 5 GHz. Strong RF current modulation is applied to the QC-metasurface near the cavity round-trip frequency; this broadens the THz emission spectrum from a single mode to multi-mode operation around a 200 GHz spectral width. Round-trip frequency pulling and locking to the injected RF signal is observed.
We present recent progress in developing THz QC-VECSELs for use as local oscillators for heterodyne receivers in the 2-5 THz frequency range. The QC-VECSEL is a recently developed external cavity configuration for making THz quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) with high power, excellent beam quality, and broadband frequency tunability. We discuss electrical frequency tuning characteristics of the QC-VECSEL, sources of noise in the free-running output frequency, and phase-locking to a stable microwave reference (subharmonic diode mixer). We also discuss progress in increasing operating temperature and reducing power consumption of the QC-VECSEL by means of reducing the thickness of the QC-gain material.
We report advances in the development of THz quantum-cascade metasurface VECSELs intended for use as local oscillators in terahertz heterodyne receiver instruments for astrophysical investigation of the interstellar medium. First, by using a patch-based amplifying metasurface we obtain QC-VECSEL lasing with milliwatt output power at 4.6 THz with reduced power consumption less than 1 W. Second, we report the phase locking of a QC-VECSEL at 3.4 THz to a microwave reference using a Schottky diode mixer. Finally, we report efforts and challenges to scale down the lasing frequency of the VECSELs to 1.9 THz.
A terahertz quantum-cascade VECSEL is demonstrated to exhibit multi-mode operation, despite the fact that spatial-hole burning is nominally suppressed within the amplifying metasurface. A specially designed output coupler mirror is used such that large numbers of modes have nearly identical lasing thresholds. Up to nine lasing modes with a FSR of approximately 21 GHz are demonstrated – a significant increase from previous QC-VECSELs in which only 2 or 3 modes have been observed to lase at once. This work is an intermediate step towards eventually demonstrating THz QC-VECSELs as broadband incoherent emitters or frequency combs.
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