COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Room-temperature terahertz semiconductor Raman lasers

本计画的目标是发展室温太赫兹半导体拉曼雷射，其基础是半导体超晶格中与子带间跃迁相关的巨大拉曼非线性。新的设备预计将在室温下工作，因为拉曼增益确实需要在低能量太赫兹跃迁的粒子数反转。巨大的拉曼非线性值将允许使用对接到拉曼部分的中红外量子级联激光器进行泵浦。本研究的学术价值在于探索出一种新颖的、极有希望的方法来制作第一个室温太赫兹半导体激光源。这项工作将提高我们对半导体纳米结构中光学非线性和子带间电子动力学的理解。该项目有望在最先进的太赫兹源方面取得重大进展，生产出在室温下工作、功率更高的紧凑型半导体器件，并具有宽带电可调谐性等新功能。更广泛的影响也很重要。这项研究是光电子学、非线性光学和半导体物理学的交叉点。这种学科的结合为参与该项目的学生提供了一个独特的教育环境。在研究期间开发的知识和技术将被纳入研究生和本科生课程，通过出版物、技术转让和研究小组传播。网站.作为该计划的结果开发的室温太赫兹半导体激光器预计将改变现有的太赫兹仪器，其应用范围从射电天文学的高分辨率光谱学和本地振荡器到太赫兹遥感和成像。

The objective of this program is to develop room-temperature terahertz semiconductor Raman lasers based on giant Raman nonlinearities associated with intersubband transitions in semiconductor superlattices. The new devices are expected to operate at room temperature because the Raman gain does require population inversion across the low-energy terahertz transition. Giant values of Raman nonlinearity will allow using midinfrared quantum cascade laser butt-joined to the Raman section for pumping. Such device configuration will result in millimeter-sized electrically-pumped terahertz semiconductor laser sources.The intellectual merit of this research is to explore a novel and highly promising approach to produce the first room-temperature terahertz semiconductor laser source. This work will enhance our understanding of optical nonlinearities and intersubband electron dynamics in semiconductor nanostructures. This project promises significant advances in state of the art terahertz sources, yielding compact semiconductor devices operating at room temperature, at higher power, and with new functionalities such as broadband electric tunability.The broader impacts are also significant. The proposed research lies at the intersection of the optoelectronics, nonlinear optics, and physics of semiconductors. This combination of disciplines offers a unique educational environment for the students involved in the project. Knowledge and techniques developed during research will be incorporated into graduate- and undergraduate-level courses, disseminated through publications, technology transfer, and the research groups? websites. Room-temperature terahertz semiconductor lasers developed as a result of this program are expected to transform existing terahertz instrumentation with applications ranging from high-resolution spectroscopy and local oscillators for radio astronomy to terahertz remote sensing and imaging.