COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Room-temperature terahertz semiconductor Raman lasers

该计划的目标是基于与半导体超晶格中亚带间跃迁相关的巨大拉曼非线性，开发室温太赫兹半导体拉曼激光器。新器件有望在室温下工作，因为拉曼增益确实需要在低能量太赫兹跃迁中进行种群反转。拉曼非线性的巨大值将允许使用中红外量子级联激光器对接到拉曼部分进行抽运。这样的装置配置将导致毫米大小的电泵太赫兹半导体激光源。本研究的智力价值在于探索了一种新颖且极具前景的方法来生产第一个室温太赫兹半导体激光源。这项工作将增强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。该项目承诺在最先进的太赫兹源方面取得重大进展，产生在室温下工作的紧凑半导体器件，功率更高，并具有宽带电可调性等新功能。更广泛的影响也很显著。提出的研究是光电子学、非线性光学和半导体物理学的交叉。这种学科的结合为参与项目的学生提供了独特的教育环境。研究期间发展的知识和技术将纳入研究生和本科生水平的课程，并通过出版物、技术转让和研究小组传播。网站。该项目开发的室温太赫兹半导体激光器有望改造现有的太赫兹仪器，应用范围从高分辨率光谱和射电天文学的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.